Dream Below, 6/8. NC-17.
Title: The Dream Below
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: *deep breath* Steve/Bucky, Steve/Natasha, Steve/Bucky/Natasha, Clint/Natasha, Loki/Natasha, Tony/Pepper, Maria/Natasha, Jane/Thor.
Disclaimer: Not mine! Not even by a little bit.
Spoilers/Warnings: MCU AU. Based off of this AU gifset on Tumblr. Come on, a mashup of Inception and the MCU. *drools* Did you really think I could stay away from this? No, I didn't think so either. :D Title and chapter titles from Linkin Park's "Castle of Glass."
Summary: Thor of Odin Corp. hires Steve Rogers' elite dream sharing team to perform inception on his brother, Loki, and a shade of their ex-resident thief Bucky (who was killed when the team's last job went horribly wrong) tries his best to sabotage it.
Or: Steve extracts, Tony builds, Clint runs point, Natasha's a master of impersonation, Bruce concocts, Thor's a tourist, and things happen.
Prior chapters:
One - Through The Secrets That I Have Seen
Two - Wash The Poison From Off My Skin
Three - Warm Me Up In A Nova's Glow
Four - Drop Me Down To The Dream Below
Five - Past The Black Where The Sirens Sing
Six - Take Me Down To The Fighting End
Wearing Thor's face, Natasha strode through the halls with his imperious manner. Most of the office workers kept out of her way, not sure what Thor was doing there. She could hear the whispers in the halls - Didn't they have that falling out? Isn't he banned from the premises now? - but ignored them. It told her a little bit about Loki's reality here on the second level of the dream, but it didn't tell her anything about how Loki saw Thor. She hoped that it was different, but couldn't pin her hopes on that. He was an emotional wreck, a bottomless pit of need, and very likely would need more than this push to get him back on track.
She walked into the main office, bold as brass, grinning at the sight of Loki seated behind the glass topped desk. Everything was minimalist, very stark and ultramodern. His office was done up in blinding white with black or forest green accents. Some of the Odin Corp gold was present in the office, too, heightening the contrast of black and green.
"Brother!" Natasha boomed in Thor's most effusive tones. She raised his arms and looked around the room. It was a very put together look, and much different from the massive furniture in Thor's office, complete with cherry and mahogany accents, gold, red and black the main color scheme. "I love what you've done with the office here!"
Loki glowered at Thor. "What are you doing here? There are specific instructions forbidding you from ever entering the grounds."
Heaving a sigh, Thor dropped into a chair in front of him. "Loki. We are brothers. Why would you be so harsh with me? You have everything you ever wanted."
The glower deepened. "You are a boor, and leaving you in charge of the company would have led it to ruin. You haven't the temperament to stay in something long term. You bore easily, and then you look for the next conquest. It's just as well that I've taken your legacy from you, Thor Odinson," Loki sneered. "You would have run this company into the ground and destroyed everything within a year."
"And what do you want with it?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Not to me. I'm the boor, remember?" Natasha leaned forward. "If your quarrel is with me, Loki, tell me what I've done. Tell me what it is so I may fix it."
"There's no fixing it. The golden son is not as golden as you thought. I will never be in your shadow again."
Damn. No progress at all.
Natasha frowned slightly at Loki. "That's not how I remember it, Loki," she said quietly. "I value your opinion. Your counsel has always been wise. Did I not tell you enough?"
"No!" he snarled. "That's not how it was. Your glorified your damned sports, you belittled the learning I toiled to acquire. You used me when you could, then threw me away. Your precious friends mattered more to you. So go back to them, take them into your poisoned company, see how quickly you fail without direction."
Thor didn't sigh gracefully, but that was all right. "I'm sorry, Loki. I'm deeply sorry. I don't know how to make it up to you."
"You can't. Don't even bother to try."
"But you're family..."
"You are nothing to me," Loki told him coldly. "You are not to return. Ever."
Clint was the security guard that grabbed Thor when he was thrown out of Odin Corp. "Well?" he intoned, keeping his face otherwise stern for the sake of the projections all around them.
"No change yet," Natasha subvocalized. "Still hates his guts, still feels ostracized. It's going to be some work to open things up a bit."
"Damn. I thought the kidnapping idea was going to loosen him up. I guess Natalie still has some work to do," Clint replied, voice a trifle sour.
"And you, too," she murmured. Once out of the way of projections, Natasha slipped out of the forge, Thor's features shimmering and morphing back into her own. As she lost the height and his clothes, she resumed her usual attire as Natalie: fitted white blouse over a high waisted black A line skirt and Louboutins that would have been at home in Pepper's closet. Grinning as Clint playfully ogled her, Natasha did a catwalk's turn for him. "Like?"
"Like," he returned with a grin. "So. What work do you think I have here?"
"You know what the real Odin Corp security is like. See what he did here and get us a way to isolate him to drop a level safely. Or how to kidnap him and get him to the original meeting point." She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "And when Steve arrives to do his security expert spiel, you can guide him where he needs to be."
Natasha nodded, then started heading toward Loki's office after giving him one last kiss. "Let's see how much spin we have to provide."
She knew she would be able to get close to Loki and have his confidence. When in his office as Thor, she had seen a wedding picture on Loki's desk. Natalie Rushman was his radiant bride, swathed in white lace and silk, locked in Loki's protective embrace in a gazebo. It was telling on so many levels.
Now she had to dig further into his psyche.
***
Steve wandered through the streets of Tony's Paris, smiling in an offhand way. It looked much like he remembered it when with Bucky and Natasha. It was odd to think about them without a guilty ache in his chest. He and Bucky had known each other first, had enlisted in the Army together, had been close and danced across the line between friends and lovers without quite deciding where they were most comfortable. Then Bucky had been transferred to a different squad and wounded in a training exercise. Steve had never gotten the exact story of how he met Natasha, though somewhere along the way she trained him to be a jewel thief. She forged papers for the knockoffs she tried to sell, and she was best friends with Clint. Neither of the two were very forthcoming with how they learned their weapons and hand to hand skills. It hadn't mattered at the time when Steve met them, and still didn't.
Steve and Natasha hit it off right away, and it took a while for him to warm up to Clint's snarky, diffident style. But the four of them were tight, especially after Bucky revealed that he was planning to go AWOL, stealing a PASIV from the training program he was in.
"It's the last one they've got," he had announced, anger tightening his jaw. "One of their trainees had stolen their other one four years ago, went rogue. We all thought he might be going terrorist, but I don't think so. I think he went underground."
"Safest place for him would be Europe," Natasha had announced.
"Unless he could speak Mandarin," Clint chimed in. "He could make a killing in Hong Kong."
"Wait, I don't get it," Steve had said with a frown.
"Because as much as you can be a little shit and break rules, you still respect authority," Bucky had declared with a grin, slinging an arm around Natasha's shoulders.
"The PASIV works on dreams," Bucky began.
"You infiltrate someone's dreams, you can take secrets out of them," Clint announced. When all eyes swiveled toward him, he shrugged. "I worked with a few guys doing security. So I know what you're heading toward. I can hook you guys up."
"But if you go AWOL, you can't come back to the US. You'll be court martialed," Steve said quietly, frowning at Bucky. "Your family..."
"I talked to my Ma and Becky. They're not happy, sure, but they'll accept it. They don't want me winding up brain dead."
Steve stared at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"It's dreams, Steve. Killing and maiming and assaulting each other in dreams as training. Less expensive than real time training, since you don't use up bullets and tanks, endless rounds of 50 caliber bullets for the snipers." There was something like carefully controlled rage in his voice now. "You don't know because you're in training for the front lines. I'm in tactical and sniper training. Up in the air, hidden in shadows, you don't see me coming."
"Okay," Steve began. Natasha and Clint didn't seem surprised by Bucky's talk. "But I don't-"
"When you die in a dream, you wake up. Then they send you down again. And again, and again, and as many times as they can do it in the training sessions. You lose track of time and reality in there. Half my team went nuts or are halfway there already. One guy woke up and cut off his own arm with the medical equipment in the room and assaulted two of the nurses with a blank look on his face because he thought it was a training session, not real life. He couldn't tell the difference between being awake or asleep anymore. I still can, and I don't want to get that bad. I don't get a say in the training, Steve. My only way out is to walk away."
Steve scrubbed at his face in agitation. "Holy shit. I didn't know."
"Of course. This is an experimental program. Yours isn't."
"Shit. Shit, shit, shit," Steve began, shaking his head. "Not yet, it isn't."
"What are you talking about?" Natasha asked, brows furrowed in confusion.
"My CO was talking about a transfer to Fort Lehigh if I wanted further specialization. I knew it was where you went, so I said yes. I'm set to go in two weeks."
Uncomfortable silence descended. "If you guys are going to go AWOL," Clint began carefully, "I'm going to need to know. I can make arrangements to get you out of the country under the radar as quickly as possible. Shit will hit the fan if you steal that PASIV, Bucky."
"You'll need to steal somnacin, too," Natasha said. All eyes swung toward her. "C'mon, boys. It's very obvious, isn't it? If you steal that PASIV and go AWOL, it's not like you can have an ordinary job even in Europe. Extradition and all that. So you're going to have to fly under the radar, and what else are you going to do for a living? Beg? That'll get old real fast."
"I do know people," Clint began uncertainly.
"I can't believe we're talking about breaking the law," Steve muttered. "This is crazy."
"Break the law or go insane," Bucky said glumly. "Fucked up options, aren't they?"
Steve sighed, nodding. "Jesus. I don't know what to even think."
"If we do it, we do it quick. Leave at the same time." He reached over and clasped Steve on the shoulder. "I'll be with you, of course. At least we're not striking out alone. It's you and me until the end of the line."
Natasha clasped Steve's hand and looked at him earnestly. Clint didn't touch him, but he seemed to be staring intently, too. "You'll have all of us. Together, we'll be a team."
The decision felt almost like it was being made for him. As soon as Steve agreed, Clint made arrangements, he and Bucky were whisked away to Spain, then shuttled to Marseilles. They bounced over to Florence next, where Clint had a contact for a potential extraction. It was meant to be a simple in and out, a one level job to find out if the young and beautiful wife of a business executive was cheating on him as he suspected.
It was after that first successful dream share job that they broke out the Glenfidditch. Clint took off to give the information to their employer, and Natasha danced around the hotel room. She gave Bucky a filthy kiss, then Steve. He sputtered in surprise, but Bucky hooted in amusement. "You two look good together," he said.
"Mmm," Natasha purred, starting to tug at Steve's clothes. "Shall we give him a show?"
"I couldn't... You're Bucky's girl..."
"Steve," Bucky said, taking a swig right from the bottle. "I'm right here, okay by me."
"Um..."
Any further complaint was swallowed by her kiss. Natasha straddled him, put his hands on her waist and kissed him. "Do I make you uncomfortable?" she smirked.
"Not the word I'd use for it."
She laughed, throaty and seductive without trying to be, and the sound shot right to his groin. Natasha was beautiful, he'd have to be blind not to notice, and it was a little odd for her to be so focused on him. Or maybe he'd never realized that she might have interest in him that way because she was with Bucky. He let her strip him to the skin, lips and fingertips fluttering over him as he was exposed. Steve looked to Bucky, feeling almost awkward, but his gaze was hungry, and he wasn't looking only at Natasha.
Good God, Bucky was interested and definitely turned on. And so was Steve.
He groaned when Natasha took him into her mouth. He threaded his fingers into her hair, kneading her scalp lightly, afraid to break the spell. She stopped long before he was even close to coming to mouth his balls and thighs. Natasha laughed and then pushed him backward on the bed. They were all free of diseases; they had to know before sharing the PASIV, just in case someone was careless with the needles, but it surprised him when Bucky helped her take off her clothes and balance her as she sank over him. "Don't you want to get something?" Steve asked her, confused.
"I like this better. Can't get pregnant anyway," she said, running her hands over his chest. She started to slide herself up and down over him, then leaned over to kiss Bucky. "Like?"
"Hell yeah," he said, a cocky grin on his face. "Can't figure out who I'm more jealous of right now," he said, lust thickening his voice.
Steve goggled at that. What the hell?
Natasha only laughed. "And we haven't even started to play yet."
She had been a little slicked to start with, but she grew slicker as Steve played with her sensitive breasts. Natasha moaned deliciously and swiveled her hips as she moved above him. "Your cock feels amazing," she purred.
"Tell me," Bucky said, moving to their side. "Tell me what he feels like."
"Mmm. Thick. Hard." She groaned, throaty and obviously enjoying herself. "Hits all the good spots just right." Moaning, Natasha ran her nails lightly down Steve's chest. "Fuck, Steve, it's downright criminal that you were hiding that glorious cock."
Bucky laughed as Steve sputtered. "Shit, Tash, I want some now."
"Wait your turn, James," she teased.
Steve couldn't believe his ears. "Natasha? Bucky?"
Natasha bore down harder, chasing her pleasure, but that was enough to make Steve come. She pouted when that happened. "But Steve," she pouted. "Now how am I gonna get off?"
Bucky peeled his clothes off and threw them aside. He didn't even wait for Natasha to get off of Steve. She was on all fours above his prone body, and Bucky slid right into her. Steve had her breasts in hand, thumbs rolling her nipples in circles. Holding onto Natasha's hips, Bucky pounded into her hard and fast, grunted with the effort and pleasure. Natasha mewled and dipped her head down to kiss Steve, tongue running over his lips. "Fuck," she moaned. "You both feel so goddamn good. Shit, this can't be a one-off, please."
Steve looked past Natasha to Bucky in surprise. "Buck?"
He thrust harder into Natasha, who threw her head back and nearly howled as she came. Bucky gingerly pulled out of her and she fell on top of Steve in a press of soft, scented flesh. She nuzzled him, and reached out to stroke Bucky's slippery cock.
"You two should kiss," she declared. "Gimme a show."
Bucky was only too eager to comply, and that startled Steve enough to open his mouth. Then there was Bucky's tongue in his mouth, better than he had even dreamed of, and it was Bucky's tongue in his mouth. Holy shit, Steve had been afraid to want this.
Natasha purred in delight. "So beautiful. God, the two of you fucking will be gorgeous."
"Jesus, Nat. Keep talking like that I'll come."
"I'll suck you off," Steve heard himself say, almost horrified. But Natasha made a delighted sound and Bucky's desirous gaze intensified as he looked at Steve.
He tasted of musk and Natasha and the bitter-salty taste of come, but Steve was thrilled at the sensation. Bucky's cock was in his mouth, Natasha's breasts were pressed against his chest as she kissed his jaw and fondled his hardening cock. Holy shit, was this all a drug induced dream? He hoped to hell not.
And then Bucky groaned, long and loud and lusty, the only warning before he came in Steve's mouth. Steve swallowed it down, one hand on Natasha and one on Bucky. It felt perfect and natural, not awkward at all, though could change once the booze wore off.
"Damn," Bucky said as he pulled out of Steve's mouth. "Why didn't we do this sooner?" he wondered aloud.
"Dunno," Natasha murmured, still nuzzling and fondling Steve. "Let's keep doing this. Like, again. Right now."
"You're insatiable," Bucky teased, flopping down beside Steve.
"Well, now there's two of you to keep up with me," she teased.
Bucky laughed, then looked at Steve in amusement. "She'll be the death of us yet, but at least we'll die happy."
That was the start of the three of them together. Steve had felt a little awkward approaching Bucky alone, and Natasha had laughed at him. "Please," she said derisively. "I see the way the two of you look at each other. Of course you want to fuck him. He's very fuckable, I agree. So fuck him and enjoy every wonderful second of it."
"It doesn't bother you?"
Natasha leaned up and kissed his cheek gently. "Steve. The two of you belonged to each other long before I came on the scene. I always knew that. Now there's just added sex involved."
With her blessing, Steve's inhibitions about pursing Bucky fell away. They kissed in hotel rooms and groped each other like lovesick teenagers. Steve loved Bucky rimming him and sliding slicked fingers into his ass more than he expected to. Maybe because it was Bucky, and there was obvious love and care in it. When Steve agreed to try anal, Bucky went so agonizingly slowly that Steve pushed himself backward, impaling himself on Bucky's cock. "Holy fuck," he groaned, loving the feel of it. "C'mon, Buck, fuck me good and hard." Which he did, which was fantastic, making Steve see stars.
It was a surprise when Steve got to fuck Bucky's ass, yet not; Bucky never backed away from anything either, and wanted it as badly as Steve did. Bucky was on his back, knees drawn up to his chest, watching Steve intently. Later, they would try all sorts of other ways to have sex, with and without Natasha, and it felt like everything was perfect.
Of course that was why it all fell apart.
They had three short years together, not enough, not by a long shot, and Steve had been utterly devastated by the loss. He resented how Natasha seemed to stay put together, how unaffected Clint was, how he couldn't seem to get past his grief.
Maybe because he was thinking about all of this, about how the last time he was in Paris he had been with Bucky, it drew his shade to him.
Bucky stood there ominously at the end of the rue, dressed all in black tactical armor. He had long hair hanging in clumps, his expression as blank as a mask. His strides were long and menacing, yet still sexy as hell.
Steve watched as he approached, not sure what he wanted to do. Or could do.
His cell phone trilled, and he answered it without thinking. It was Clint, snapping him out of his spell. "Yeah?"
"Doesn't look like too much has changed with Loki yet, but Tash is going to check. But the security is different, and there are holes in it..."
Steve's gaze shifted for just a moment, but it was enough to lose sight of Bucky. Dammit.
"Stay safe, and I'll meet up with you. Bucky's out there."
"Better out there than in here," Clint remarked. "I'll meet you at the rendezvous point to see what we need to tweak in the plan."
Damn. More tweaks? Steve was so tired of complications.
"Fine. Meet you there."
Ignoring the rest of the Parisian cityscape, Steve headed for Odin Corp headquarters.
***
Natalie headed into Loki's office, a playful knock on the door before she walked right in as if she owned it. "Loki? You all right?"
He was sitting at his desk, staring at the glass top, not moving. He looked up at her with an almost guilty expression. "You would be so ashamed of me."
"Oh, Loki," she began, coming in and sitting in his lap. "Honey, tell me everything."
Loki told her about the visit from Thor, the simmering rage that exploded almost out of nowhere as Thor talked. "I thought I was over this. I thought I could let it all go. But I watched him sit there, all smug and full of himself, talking down to me, belittling my efforts to save this company from his stupidity, and I couldn't stay calm. I just couldn't do it."
Natalie ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his temple. "I don't understand. Why was it so terrible to see him again?"
"I'm nothing next to him. He's the one everyone loves, everyone goes after. I'm a monster in their eyes, the enemy that has to be challenged and defeated. I'm still standing in his shadow, as much as I am in control of Odin Corp, as much as I have brought in millions in revenue, turned around this dying company, and I will never be good enough."
She took his face in her hands and quieted his near-sobs. "Loki. Darling, you are good enough. You will always be good enough. You are not a monster. I would never be with a monster. Don't you trust me on that?"
He leaned into her touch and held her tightly. "I want to believe it. But somehow, I just can't. It hurts to see him, knowing I can't ever measure up."
"Loki, the scales are completely different. You're the clever one, he's the brawny one." She kissed his face and let her fingers slide down his neck. "You're the one I live for, Loki. He's the one that's nothing."
The look on his face was so plaintive and vulnerable, it was painful to see. He held her tightly, as if afraid she would disappear and he would be left alone. "Natalie..."
"You have a legacy, Loki. You have intelligence and charisma, the vision to take this company where he could never dream. It's yours, darling. Everything here is yours, and you're going to be the best chairman this place has ever seen."
The gratitude he looked at her with was almost guilt inducing. Almost.
"What would I ever do without you?"
Natalie smiled knowingly and gave him a filthy kiss. "I'm making you a better person, Loki," she told him. "All this pain one day will be a memory."
"I would love that," he murmured as he pulled her down for another kiss.
And thankfully, this layer would not be as horrible as she had feared.
Loki skimmed his hands over her torso. "Did you lock the door, love?"
"No. Should I?"
"Unless you're into exhibitionism...?"
Laughing as she shook her head, Natalie slid off his lap and moved to lock the office door. As she walked back to him, she unbuttoned her blouse and added a sway to her hips. "You know what I think, Loki?" she asked in a sultry tone. He shook his head, transfixed by the sight of her moving. "I think you need to set up a meeting between you and your brother. I think," she said, untucking her blouse, "that you need to figure out how you really feel about it."
Loki's eyes tracked the blouse falling to the floor before her words registered. "Nat," he sighed, sinking into his chair a little. "It's not going to be like you and Karin. She's lovely, you all grew up as friends..."
"Didn't you grow up as friends with your brother? Not saying you have to be now, but it'll torture you less if you figure this out. I don't like seeing you this way."
Natasha managed not to laugh as Natalie dropped the bra and shimmied out of the skirt. Loki was so predictable, and he licked his lips without taking his eyes off of her. "I want..." he began, sounding a little lost.
"Yes?"
"I want to believe it can be better," he said hoarsely, reaching for her. "I don't think he seriously wants to hurt me. But he doesn't listen," he said, frustration evident in his voice. "All he hears is the sound of his own voice."
Natalie straddled him on his chair, which had been deliberately wide for just this purpose. She pulled at his clothing as he bent his head and kissed the tops of her breasts, fingers running down her back. She ran her fingers through his hair and made a soothing noise. "And that's different from you how?" she teased.
He playfully growled at her and looked up. "I mean... What if he doesn't listen to me?"
"You're the one in charge here. How can he not?" She opened the front of his trousers and let his erection spring free, making him groan with need. "Loki, this is your company. You saved it, you innovated it. You're going to be fine. You're not a little boy fighting for attention or needing an absent father's approval. You're a grown man, strong willed-"
"And going to be a father," Loki murmured, splaying his fingers over her flat belly. "I'll be a better father than mine was, I promise you."
"Which also means making amends in some way. Our child should have its entire family present, don't you think? Both sides, able to take in the best of everyone and learn what not to do from the idiots in our family trees."
Moaning when she sank down over him, Loki nodded. "All right. I'll do it. I'll meet with that lout and see what he has to say. I'll show him I'm better than him. I'll show him that-" His voice choked off at the swivel of her hips. "Oh, you are so distracting."
"Isn't that the point?" she purred, laughing.
He grabbed her ass tight and pushed his hips up as she sank down. Natalie moaned at the contact and pulled on his hair a little. "Natalie," he groaned. "You'll stay with me?"
"Always," she promised, clenching her inner muscles tight.
"Tricky woman," he growled, pulling her down for a kiss.
She laughed against his mouth and shifted her hips, enough to make his entire body tighten. "I know how much family means to you. They're important. They're always important. Sometimes they disappoint you, sometimes they please you. But you can never leave them behind."
He came, holding her tight and nearly sobbing from the intensity of his emotions. "No, I can't," he murmured, resting his head against her chest. "Even if I wanted to."
"So let's change things," she murmured, stroking his hair.
"It's time to make it better," Loki agreed.
***
***
To Chapter Seven - Bring Me Home In A Blinding Dream
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: *deep breath* Steve/Bucky, Steve/Natasha, Steve/Bucky/Natasha, Clint/Natasha, Loki/Natasha, Tony/Pepper, Maria/Natasha, Jane/Thor.
Disclaimer: Not mine! Not even by a little bit.
Spoilers/Warnings: MCU AU. Based off of this AU gifset on Tumblr. Come on, a mashup of Inception and the MCU. *drools* Did you really think I could stay away from this? No, I didn't think so either. :D Title and chapter titles from Linkin Park's "Castle of Glass."
Summary: Thor of Odin Corp. hires Steve Rogers' elite dream sharing team to perform inception on his brother, Loki, and a shade of their ex-resident thief Bucky (who was killed when the team's last job went horribly wrong) tries his best to sabotage it.
Or: Steve extracts, Tony builds, Clint runs point, Natasha's a master of impersonation, Bruce concocts, Thor's a tourist, and things happen.
Prior chapters:
One - Through The Secrets That I Have Seen
Two - Wash The Poison From Off My Skin
Three - Warm Me Up In A Nova's Glow
Four - Drop Me Down To The Dream Below
Five - Past The Black Where The Sirens Sing
Six - Take Me Down To The Fighting End
Wearing Thor's face, Natasha strode through the halls with his imperious manner. Most of the office workers kept out of her way, not sure what Thor was doing there. She could hear the whispers in the halls - Didn't they have that falling out? Isn't he banned from the premises now? - but ignored them. It told her a little bit about Loki's reality here on the second level of the dream, but it didn't tell her anything about how Loki saw Thor. She hoped that it was different, but couldn't pin her hopes on that. He was an emotional wreck, a bottomless pit of need, and very likely would need more than this push to get him back on track.
She walked into the main office, bold as brass, grinning at the sight of Loki seated behind the glass topped desk. Everything was minimalist, very stark and ultramodern. His office was done up in blinding white with black or forest green accents. Some of the Odin Corp gold was present in the office, too, heightening the contrast of black and green.
"Brother!" Natasha boomed in Thor's most effusive tones. She raised his arms and looked around the room. It was a very put together look, and much different from the massive furniture in Thor's office, complete with cherry and mahogany accents, gold, red and black the main color scheme. "I love what you've done with the office here!"
Loki glowered at Thor. "What are you doing here? There are specific instructions forbidding you from ever entering the grounds."
Heaving a sigh, Thor dropped into a chair in front of him. "Loki. We are brothers. Why would you be so harsh with me? You have everything you ever wanted."
The glower deepened. "You are a boor, and leaving you in charge of the company would have led it to ruin. You haven't the temperament to stay in something long term. You bore easily, and then you look for the next conquest. It's just as well that I've taken your legacy from you, Thor Odinson," Loki sneered. "You would have run this company into the ground and destroyed everything within a year."
"And what do you want with it?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Not to me. I'm the boor, remember?" Natasha leaned forward. "If your quarrel is with me, Loki, tell me what I've done. Tell me what it is so I may fix it."
"There's no fixing it. The golden son is not as golden as you thought. I will never be in your shadow again."
Damn. No progress at all.
Natasha frowned slightly at Loki. "That's not how I remember it, Loki," she said quietly. "I value your opinion. Your counsel has always been wise. Did I not tell you enough?"
"No!" he snarled. "That's not how it was. Your glorified your damned sports, you belittled the learning I toiled to acquire. You used me when you could, then threw me away. Your precious friends mattered more to you. So go back to them, take them into your poisoned company, see how quickly you fail without direction."
Thor didn't sigh gracefully, but that was all right. "I'm sorry, Loki. I'm deeply sorry. I don't know how to make it up to you."
"You can't. Don't even bother to try."
"But you're family..."
"You are nothing to me," Loki told him coldly. "You are not to return. Ever."
Clint was the security guard that grabbed Thor when he was thrown out of Odin Corp. "Well?" he intoned, keeping his face otherwise stern for the sake of the projections all around them.
"No change yet," Natasha subvocalized. "Still hates his guts, still feels ostracized. It's going to be some work to open things up a bit."
"Damn. I thought the kidnapping idea was going to loosen him up. I guess Natalie still has some work to do," Clint replied, voice a trifle sour.
"And you, too," she murmured. Once out of the way of projections, Natasha slipped out of the forge, Thor's features shimmering and morphing back into her own. As she lost the height and his clothes, she resumed her usual attire as Natalie: fitted white blouse over a high waisted black A line skirt and Louboutins that would have been at home in Pepper's closet. Grinning as Clint playfully ogled her, Natasha did a catwalk's turn for him. "Like?"
"Like," he returned with a grin. "So. What work do you think I have here?"
"You know what the real Odin Corp security is like. See what he did here and get us a way to isolate him to drop a level safely. Or how to kidnap him and get him to the original meeting point." She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "And when Steve arrives to do his security expert spiel, you can guide him where he needs to be."
Natasha nodded, then started heading toward Loki's office after giving him one last kiss. "Let's see how much spin we have to provide."
She knew she would be able to get close to Loki and have his confidence. When in his office as Thor, she had seen a wedding picture on Loki's desk. Natalie Rushman was his radiant bride, swathed in white lace and silk, locked in Loki's protective embrace in a gazebo. It was telling on so many levels.
Now she had to dig further into his psyche.
***
Steve wandered through the streets of Tony's Paris, smiling in an offhand way. It looked much like he remembered it when with Bucky and Natasha. It was odd to think about them without a guilty ache in his chest. He and Bucky had known each other first, had enlisted in the Army together, had been close and danced across the line between friends and lovers without quite deciding where they were most comfortable. Then Bucky had been transferred to a different squad and wounded in a training exercise. Steve had never gotten the exact story of how he met Natasha, though somewhere along the way she trained him to be a jewel thief. She forged papers for the knockoffs she tried to sell, and she was best friends with Clint. Neither of the two were very forthcoming with how they learned their weapons and hand to hand skills. It hadn't mattered at the time when Steve met them, and still didn't.
Steve and Natasha hit it off right away, and it took a while for him to warm up to Clint's snarky, diffident style. But the four of them were tight, especially after Bucky revealed that he was planning to go AWOL, stealing a PASIV from the training program he was in.
"It's the last one they've got," he had announced, anger tightening his jaw. "One of their trainees had stolen their other one four years ago, went rogue. We all thought he might be going terrorist, but I don't think so. I think he went underground."
"Safest place for him would be Europe," Natasha had announced.
"Unless he could speak Mandarin," Clint chimed in. "He could make a killing in Hong Kong."
"Wait, I don't get it," Steve had said with a frown.
"Because as much as you can be a little shit and break rules, you still respect authority," Bucky had declared with a grin, slinging an arm around Natasha's shoulders.
"The PASIV works on dreams," Bucky began.
"You infiltrate someone's dreams, you can take secrets out of them," Clint announced. When all eyes swiveled toward him, he shrugged. "I worked with a few guys doing security. So I know what you're heading toward. I can hook you guys up."
"But if you go AWOL, you can't come back to the US. You'll be court martialed," Steve said quietly, frowning at Bucky. "Your family..."
"I talked to my Ma and Becky. They're not happy, sure, but they'll accept it. They don't want me winding up brain dead."
Steve stared at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"It's dreams, Steve. Killing and maiming and assaulting each other in dreams as training. Less expensive than real time training, since you don't use up bullets and tanks, endless rounds of 50 caliber bullets for the snipers." There was something like carefully controlled rage in his voice now. "You don't know because you're in training for the front lines. I'm in tactical and sniper training. Up in the air, hidden in shadows, you don't see me coming."
"Okay," Steve began. Natasha and Clint didn't seem surprised by Bucky's talk. "But I don't-"
"When you die in a dream, you wake up. Then they send you down again. And again, and again, and as many times as they can do it in the training sessions. You lose track of time and reality in there. Half my team went nuts or are halfway there already. One guy woke up and cut off his own arm with the medical equipment in the room and assaulted two of the nurses with a blank look on his face because he thought it was a training session, not real life. He couldn't tell the difference between being awake or asleep anymore. I still can, and I don't want to get that bad. I don't get a say in the training, Steve. My only way out is to walk away."
Steve scrubbed at his face in agitation. "Holy shit. I didn't know."
"Of course. This is an experimental program. Yours isn't."
"Shit. Shit, shit, shit," Steve began, shaking his head. "Not yet, it isn't."
"What are you talking about?" Natasha asked, brows furrowed in confusion.
"My CO was talking about a transfer to Fort Lehigh if I wanted further specialization. I knew it was where you went, so I said yes. I'm set to go in two weeks."
Uncomfortable silence descended. "If you guys are going to go AWOL," Clint began carefully, "I'm going to need to know. I can make arrangements to get you out of the country under the radar as quickly as possible. Shit will hit the fan if you steal that PASIV, Bucky."
"You'll need to steal somnacin, too," Natasha said. All eyes swung toward her. "C'mon, boys. It's very obvious, isn't it? If you steal that PASIV and go AWOL, it's not like you can have an ordinary job even in Europe. Extradition and all that. So you're going to have to fly under the radar, and what else are you going to do for a living? Beg? That'll get old real fast."
"I do know people," Clint began uncertainly.
"I can't believe we're talking about breaking the law," Steve muttered. "This is crazy."
"Break the law or go insane," Bucky said glumly. "Fucked up options, aren't they?"
Steve sighed, nodding. "Jesus. I don't know what to even think."
"If we do it, we do it quick. Leave at the same time." He reached over and clasped Steve on the shoulder. "I'll be with you, of course. At least we're not striking out alone. It's you and me until the end of the line."
Natasha clasped Steve's hand and looked at him earnestly. Clint didn't touch him, but he seemed to be staring intently, too. "You'll have all of us. Together, we'll be a team."
The decision felt almost like it was being made for him. As soon as Steve agreed, Clint made arrangements, he and Bucky were whisked away to Spain, then shuttled to Marseilles. They bounced over to Florence next, where Clint had a contact for a potential extraction. It was meant to be a simple in and out, a one level job to find out if the young and beautiful wife of a business executive was cheating on him as he suspected.
It was after that first successful dream share job that they broke out the Glenfidditch. Clint took off to give the information to their employer, and Natasha danced around the hotel room. She gave Bucky a filthy kiss, then Steve. He sputtered in surprise, but Bucky hooted in amusement. "You two look good together," he said.
"Mmm," Natasha purred, starting to tug at Steve's clothes. "Shall we give him a show?"
"I couldn't... You're Bucky's girl..."
"Steve," Bucky said, taking a swig right from the bottle. "I'm right here, okay by me."
"Um..."
Any further complaint was swallowed by her kiss. Natasha straddled him, put his hands on her waist and kissed him. "Do I make you uncomfortable?" she smirked.
"Not the word I'd use for it."
She laughed, throaty and seductive without trying to be, and the sound shot right to his groin. Natasha was beautiful, he'd have to be blind not to notice, and it was a little odd for her to be so focused on him. Or maybe he'd never realized that she might have interest in him that way because she was with Bucky. He let her strip him to the skin, lips and fingertips fluttering over him as he was exposed. Steve looked to Bucky, feeling almost awkward, but his gaze was hungry, and he wasn't looking only at Natasha.
Good God, Bucky was interested and definitely turned on. And so was Steve.
He groaned when Natasha took him into her mouth. He threaded his fingers into her hair, kneading her scalp lightly, afraid to break the spell. She stopped long before he was even close to coming to mouth his balls and thighs. Natasha laughed and then pushed him backward on the bed. They were all free of diseases; they had to know before sharing the PASIV, just in case someone was careless with the needles, but it surprised him when Bucky helped her take off her clothes and balance her as she sank over him. "Don't you want to get something?" Steve asked her, confused.
"I like this better. Can't get pregnant anyway," she said, running her hands over his chest. She started to slide herself up and down over him, then leaned over to kiss Bucky. "Like?"
"Hell yeah," he said, a cocky grin on his face. "Can't figure out who I'm more jealous of right now," he said, lust thickening his voice.
Steve goggled at that. What the hell?
Natasha only laughed. "And we haven't even started to play yet."
She had been a little slicked to start with, but she grew slicker as Steve played with her sensitive breasts. Natasha moaned deliciously and swiveled her hips as she moved above him. "Your cock feels amazing," she purred.
"Tell me," Bucky said, moving to their side. "Tell me what he feels like."
"Mmm. Thick. Hard." She groaned, throaty and obviously enjoying herself. "Hits all the good spots just right." Moaning, Natasha ran her nails lightly down Steve's chest. "Fuck, Steve, it's downright criminal that you were hiding that glorious cock."
Bucky laughed as Steve sputtered. "Shit, Tash, I want some now."
"Wait your turn, James," she teased.
Steve couldn't believe his ears. "Natasha? Bucky?"
Natasha bore down harder, chasing her pleasure, but that was enough to make Steve come. She pouted when that happened. "But Steve," she pouted. "Now how am I gonna get off?"
Bucky peeled his clothes off and threw them aside. He didn't even wait for Natasha to get off of Steve. She was on all fours above his prone body, and Bucky slid right into her. Steve had her breasts in hand, thumbs rolling her nipples in circles. Holding onto Natasha's hips, Bucky pounded into her hard and fast, grunted with the effort and pleasure. Natasha mewled and dipped her head down to kiss Steve, tongue running over his lips. "Fuck," she moaned. "You both feel so goddamn good. Shit, this can't be a one-off, please."
Steve looked past Natasha to Bucky in surprise. "Buck?"
He thrust harder into Natasha, who threw her head back and nearly howled as she came. Bucky gingerly pulled out of her and she fell on top of Steve in a press of soft, scented flesh. She nuzzled him, and reached out to stroke Bucky's slippery cock.
"You two should kiss," she declared. "Gimme a show."
Bucky was only too eager to comply, and that startled Steve enough to open his mouth. Then there was Bucky's tongue in his mouth, better than he had even dreamed of, and it was Bucky's tongue in his mouth. Holy shit, Steve had been afraid to want this.
Natasha purred in delight. "So beautiful. God, the two of you fucking will be gorgeous."
"Jesus, Nat. Keep talking like that I'll come."
"I'll suck you off," Steve heard himself say, almost horrified. But Natasha made a delighted sound and Bucky's desirous gaze intensified as he looked at Steve.
He tasted of musk and Natasha and the bitter-salty taste of come, but Steve was thrilled at the sensation. Bucky's cock was in his mouth, Natasha's breasts were pressed against his chest as she kissed his jaw and fondled his hardening cock. Holy shit, was this all a drug induced dream? He hoped to hell not.
And then Bucky groaned, long and loud and lusty, the only warning before he came in Steve's mouth. Steve swallowed it down, one hand on Natasha and one on Bucky. It felt perfect and natural, not awkward at all, though could change once the booze wore off.
"Damn," Bucky said as he pulled out of Steve's mouth. "Why didn't we do this sooner?" he wondered aloud.
"Dunno," Natasha murmured, still nuzzling and fondling Steve. "Let's keep doing this. Like, again. Right now."
"You're insatiable," Bucky teased, flopping down beside Steve.
"Well, now there's two of you to keep up with me," she teased.
Bucky laughed, then looked at Steve in amusement. "She'll be the death of us yet, but at least we'll die happy."
That was the start of the three of them together. Steve had felt a little awkward approaching Bucky alone, and Natasha had laughed at him. "Please," she said derisively. "I see the way the two of you look at each other. Of course you want to fuck him. He's very fuckable, I agree. So fuck him and enjoy every wonderful second of it."
"It doesn't bother you?"
Natasha leaned up and kissed his cheek gently. "Steve. The two of you belonged to each other long before I came on the scene. I always knew that. Now there's just added sex involved."
With her blessing, Steve's inhibitions about pursing Bucky fell away. They kissed in hotel rooms and groped each other like lovesick teenagers. Steve loved Bucky rimming him and sliding slicked fingers into his ass more than he expected to. Maybe because it was Bucky, and there was obvious love and care in it. When Steve agreed to try anal, Bucky went so agonizingly slowly that Steve pushed himself backward, impaling himself on Bucky's cock. "Holy fuck," he groaned, loving the feel of it. "C'mon, Buck, fuck me good and hard." Which he did, which was fantastic, making Steve see stars.
It was a surprise when Steve got to fuck Bucky's ass, yet not; Bucky never backed away from anything either, and wanted it as badly as Steve did. Bucky was on his back, knees drawn up to his chest, watching Steve intently. Later, they would try all sorts of other ways to have sex, with and without Natasha, and it felt like everything was perfect.
Of course that was why it all fell apart.
They had three short years together, not enough, not by a long shot, and Steve had been utterly devastated by the loss. He resented how Natasha seemed to stay put together, how unaffected Clint was, how he couldn't seem to get past his grief.
Maybe because he was thinking about all of this, about how the last time he was in Paris he had been with Bucky, it drew his shade to him.
Bucky stood there ominously at the end of the rue, dressed all in black tactical armor. He had long hair hanging in clumps, his expression as blank as a mask. His strides were long and menacing, yet still sexy as hell.
Steve watched as he approached, not sure what he wanted to do. Or could do.
His cell phone trilled, and he answered it without thinking. It was Clint, snapping him out of his spell. "Yeah?"
"Doesn't look like too much has changed with Loki yet, but Tash is going to check. But the security is different, and there are holes in it..."
Steve's gaze shifted for just a moment, but it was enough to lose sight of Bucky. Dammit.
"Stay safe, and I'll meet up with you. Bucky's out there."
"Better out there than in here," Clint remarked. "I'll meet you at the rendezvous point to see what we need to tweak in the plan."
Damn. More tweaks? Steve was so tired of complications.
"Fine. Meet you there."
Ignoring the rest of the Parisian cityscape, Steve headed for Odin Corp headquarters.
***
Natalie headed into Loki's office, a playful knock on the door before she walked right in as if she owned it. "Loki? You all right?"
He was sitting at his desk, staring at the glass top, not moving. He looked up at her with an almost guilty expression. "You would be so ashamed of me."
"Oh, Loki," she began, coming in and sitting in his lap. "Honey, tell me everything."
Loki told her about the visit from Thor, the simmering rage that exploded almost out of nowhere as Thor talked. "I thought I was over this. I thought I could let it all go. But I watched him sit there, all smug and full of himself, talking down to me, belittling my efforts to save this company from his stupidity, and I couldn't stay calm. I just couldn't do it."
Natalie ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his temple. "I don't understand. Why was it so terrible to see him again?"
"I'm nothing next to him. He's the one everyone loves, everyone goes after. I'm a monster in their eyes, the enemy that has to be challenged and defeated. I'm still standing in his shadow, as much as I am in control of Odin Corp, as much as I have brought in millions in revenue, turned around this dying company, and I will never be good enough."
She took his face in her hands and quieted his near-sobs. "Loki. Darling, you are good enough. You will always be good enough. You are not a monster. I would never be with a monster. Don't you trust me on that?"
He leaned into her touch and held her tightly. "I want to believe it. But somehow, I just can't. It hurts to see him, knowing I can't ever measure up."
"Loki, the scales are completely different. You're the clever one, he's the brawny one." She kissed his face and let her fingers slide down his neck. "You're the one I live for, Loki. He's the one that's nothing."
The look on his face was so plaintive and vulnerable, it was painful to see. He held her tightly, as if afraid she would disappear and he would be left alone. "Natalie..."
"You have a legacy, Loki. You have intelligence and charisma, the vision to take this company where he could never dream. It's yours, darling. Everything here is yours, and you're going to be the best chairman this place has ever seen."
The gratitude he looked at her with was almost guilt inducing. Almost.
"What would I ever do without you?"
Natalie smiled knowingly and gave him a filthy kiss. "I'm making you a better person, Loki," she told him. "All this pain one day will be a memory."
"I would love that," he murmured as he pulled her down for another kiss.
And thankfully, this layer would not be as horrible as she had feared.
Loki skimmed his hands over her torso. "Did you lock the door, love?"
"No. Should I?"
"Unless you're into exhibitionism...?"
Laughing as she shook her head, Natalie slid off his lap and moved to lock the office door. As she walked back to him, she unbuttoned her blouse and added a sway to her hips. "You know what I think, Loki?" she asked in a sultry tone. He shook his head, transfixed by the sight of her moving. "I think you need to set up a meeting between you and your brother. I think," she said, untucking her blouse, "that you need to figure out how you really feel about it."
Loki's eyes tracked the blouse falling to the floor before her words registered. "Nat," he sighed, sinking into his chair a little. "It's not going to be like you and Karin. She's lovely, you all grew up as friends..."
"Didn't you grow up as friends with your brother? Not saying you have to be now, but it'll torture you less if you figure this out. I don't like seeing you this way."
Natasha managed not to laugh as Natalie dropped the bra and shimmied out of the skirt. Loki was so predictable, and he licked his lips without taking his eyes off of her. "I want..." he began, sounding a little lost.
"Yes?"
"I want to believe it can be better," he said hoarsely, reaching for her. "I don't think he seriously wants to hurt me. But he doesn't listen," he said, frustration evident in his voice. "All he hears is the sound of his own voice."
Natalie straddled him on his chair, which had been deliberately wide for just this purpose. She pulled at his clothing as he bent his head and kissed the tops of her breasts, fingers running down her back. She ran her fingers through his hair and made a soothing noise. "And that's different from you how?" she teased.
He playfully growled at her and looked up. "I mean... What if he doesn't listen to me?"
"You're the one in charge here. How can he not?" She opened the front of his trousers and let his erection spring free, making him groan with need. "Loki, this is your company. You saved it, you innovated it. You're going to be fine. You're not a little boy fighting for attention or needing an absent father's approval. You're a grown man, strong willed-"
"And going to be a father," Loki murmured, splaying his fingers over her flat belly. "I'll be a better father than mine was, I promise you."
"Which also means making amends in some way. Our child should have its entire family present, don't you think? Both sides, able to take in the best of everyone and learn what not to do from the idiots in our family trees."
Moaning when she sank down over him, Loki nodded. "All right. I'll do it. I'll meet with that lout and see what he has to say. I'll show him I'm better than him. I'll show him that-" His voice choked off at the swivel of her hips. "Oh, you are so distracting."
"Isn't that the point?" she purred, laughing.
He grabbed her ass tight and pushed his hips up as she sank down. Natalie moaned at the contact and pulled on his hair a little. "Natalie," he groaned. "You'll stay with me?"
"Always," she promised, clenching her inner muscles tight.
"Tricky woman," he growled, pulling her down for a kiss.
She laughed against his mouth and shifted her hips, enough to make his entire body tighten. "I know how much family means to you. They're important. They're always important. Sometimes they disappoint you, sometimes they please you. But you can never leave them behind."
He came, holding her tight and nearly sobbing from the intensity of his emotions. "No, I can't," he murmured, resting his head against her chest. "Even if I wanted to."
"So let's change things," she murmured, stroking his hair.
"It's time to make it better," Loki agreed.
***
***
To Chapter Seven - Bring Me Home In A Blinding Dream