LOKI POV

"Mr. Barnes is approaching." The voice of Stark's AI rang out through the Library and my fingers dug slightly into the leather of the book I was holding, squeezing my eyes shut as I let out a heavy breath.

"What does he want?" I muttered, slowly looking back down at my book again.

While my face had healed by itself pretty quickly, I swore sometimes I could still feel the impact of that metal hand colliding with my jaw, the pain blossoming across my face. I didn't regret not defending myself though, I still deserved every second of it. I was just glad that Emily hadn't seen me like that, I didn't want her to be more upset.

"She's coming to see you." Barnes' sharp voice pulled me out of my thoughts and I dragged my eyes up from the pages to see him standing in front of me, arms folded tightly across his chest.

"You've finally given up protecting her from me?" I asked dryly, trying to hide the hurt in my voice.

"She wants to see you." I could see a muscle ticking in his jaw, tension basically radiating off him.

"She shouldn't want to." I muttered, shaking my head slightly.

"I could easily stop her," He pointed out, "but I am willing to let her see you. You should take the opportunity before I change my mind."

"She hates me though." I turned my eyes back down to my book, biting back a sharp remark about him not being her keeper.

"She seemed to think that you hate her." He shook his head.

"What?" My eyes immediately darted back to him. "Why?"

"Because you've been avoiding her." He replied.

"You've been banning me from seeing her." I barely kept the snap out of my tone.

"I'm letting you see her now." His tone sharpened too. "Take the opportunity."

I clenched my jaw, eyes dropping for a moment before I sighed, bookmarking my page and setting down the book, slowly standing up.

"Where is she?" I murmured, smoothing out my clothes.

"She will come see you." He gave me a sharp look. "When she is ready. But I swear to whatever you believe in if you hurt her in any kind of way, it won't be clean. Understood?"

"Yeah, whatever." I sighed, collapsing back into the chair.

"Don't mess it up." He warned, his eyes flicking over me before he faintly shook his head.

I bit back my sharp retort, glaring at his back as he turned around and disappeared back out the door.

EMILY POV

I stared at myself in the mirror of my bedroom, internally wincing at the reflection that stared back at me. My eyes flicked over the pale pink woven jumper I had slipped on as I fiddled with the hem on the sleeves, biting my lip. Sighing, I pulled it off and put on the grey one, wincing almost immediately and pulling it straight off again. I put on the pink one again and stared at my hair, still damp from my shower. I had pulled it back into a ponytail and I carefully smoothed back one stray strand before I studied my reflection.

Muttering under my breath, I dragged myself away from it, knowing I was only going to procrastinate more. I ran a hand down the beige tracksuit pants I had slipped on, hoping I looked casual enough as I took a deep breath. I wanted to come across as calm, but not so calm that I looked like I didn't care. I wanted to come across as content, but not too content that it seemed like my life was all perfect.

"JARVIS." I pulled up all of the courage I had, taking in another deep breath before I could talk myself out of it. "Where's Loki?"

"He is in the Library." The AI replied.

"Thank you." I murmured

I slowly walked towards the door, hesitantly pushing it open and walking down the stairs. Bucky gave me a sharp look from where he was sitting on the couch with Nat and Steve, but I kept my head down and wrapped my arms tightly around myself.

I soon stood nervously in front of the looming Library doors, hesitating last moment. But I knew it was only going to get worse if I left it, and I slowly began to push the doors open. I breathed in the smell of the books and the numerous scent sticks Wanda had placed around the shelves, hesitantly stepping forward. I tried to keep my legs moving at the same pace, but as I got closer to the window seat that I knew was his favourite, I couldn't help but slow down a little.

There, sitting in the plush chair with a book in his hand, Loki sat. The sunlight filtering through the window caught on the black strands of his hair and pale skin, illuminating them faintly. I paused, still partially hidden by the bookshelf, but before I could say anything, his eyes snapped up to mine.

"Em." He practically breathed, frozen for a moment before he fumbled with a bookmark, closing his book and putting it on the wooden table as he slowly began to stand.

"Hey." I smiled weakly, trying to calm down the rapid beating of my heart as I fiddled with the hem of my sleeves again, hands half-hidden in the fabric as I ducked my head. "Look, I'm sorry about-".

"No." He immediately interrupted and my eyes shot up to his just as he winced. "Shit... I uh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound that harsh. I just..." He hesitated, taking a nervous step towards me as he fiddled with his fingers. "I just don't want you to blame yourself for my stupid mistake. Please."

"I was actually going to apologise for Bucky being overprotective." I murmured, my fingers twisting in the fabric. "But, I was going to eventually apologise for what happened too. I overreacted, by a lot." My arms wound around my waist. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, I was tired and I had just had a nightmare and I wasn't thinking clearly. I shouldn't be making excuses, and if I could go back, I would change how I reacted. I know you would never try to hurt me."

"You weren't overreacting." He shook his head, taking another careful step forward, his eyes flicking over my face the whole time. "I broke a promise. A very important one too. I've hated myself every single day since then for doing that. And I don't want to make excuses, but... that dream, it... I swear, I couldn't look away from it. It was like holding me there. I tried to pull back, but every time I did, it dragged me deeper. It... it was horrible." His voice trailed off, his throat bobbing as he swallowed thickly.

"Yeah, I know." I murmured, gently rubbing my arms as I looked away.

"Why... why didn't you say something?" He asked, his tone full of hesitation.

"How was I meant to bring it up?" I replied softly and he sighed, nodding.

"I'm here, you know." He took another slight step forward. "If you ever want to talk. Not only about that, but anything. Ever."

I nodded, swallowing the lump building thickly in my throat as my fingers dug into my side.

"It was why you reacted so... so much when I kissed you, on Christmas." He murmured and my eyes quickly flicked up to his face as he cringed slightly. "Sorry, that was really bad timing." He ran a hand through his head.

"No it's okay." I shook my head. "You... you can ask what you want." I rubbed my arms again. "I feel like talking about it... it might help me get over it more."

"I don't want to force you to talk about it though." He murmured.

"I don't want to feel like I'm keeping secrets though." I sighed. "Especially from you."

"Everyone has their secrets." He shook his head again. "You have a choice in this. Don't feel like you have to tell me anything." I nodded, swallowing thickly as I rubbed my arms.

"Can I hug you?" He murmured and my eyes flicked up to him, seeing how gentle and sad his eyes were and I couldn't hold myself back from nodding.

He slowly stepped forward, eyesflicking over me once more, before he wrapped his arms around me and I buriedmy head into his chest, surrendering to his familiar warmth that I had beenmissing.