The whole night, I am well aware of Loki, who has his arms wrapped around me tightly and holds me as if he was afraid I'd run away. His firm chest is pressed against my back, and one of his legs lies across my hip. I can feel him breathing against the sensitive skin of my neck and the soft sound of his slow breathing, as well as his scent follow me into my dreams.

"Loki!" I gasp when I awake as the sun shines through my window. Rolling over, my hand meets a firm chest, and I finally open my eyes, only to notice that the security I felt the whole night wasn't just a nice dream.

Loki stirs in his sleep and suddenly his hand shoots out and grabs for my waist, his fingers spreading on my abdomen as he pulls me against him and moves some of his weight on top of me, making my face flush a crimson red.

He murmurs something, still half asleep, before nuzzling his nose into my hair and dozing off again. It feels so peaceful just lying here. The soft, gentle sound of Loki's breath near my ear and the tips of his silky hair tickling my neck awaken a strange feeling inside me. Longing.

I don't know exactly what for, but it causes a hollow feeling near the area of my heart. I know the feeling, and in the past, it has only brought me grief and stress with its consequences. To this day, I blame myself for my recklessness and my gullibility that took everything I had.

I swore then that I would never let anyone get that close to me again, and yet I can hear the steady heartbeat of Loki lying in my bed, holding me close as if we were a couple. The realization tastes bitter and I hope I am strong enough to resist my longing and not fall for a man who is unpredictable and dangerous to boot, but I dread the moment he would let go of me.

After rolling my eyes until I can blurrily see the time on the alarm clock on my bedside table from the very corner of my eyes, I decide it's time to get up. My position is becoming uncomfortable, and since I can hardly move at all thanks to Loki's weight bearing down on me, I can't lie down any other way.

I wriggle around until I can turn my head around, and instantly, my eyes widen when my nose is met with the soft skin of Loki's throat, his chin resting on top of my head. For a brief moment, I allow myself to close my eyes again, inhaling the godly scent and absorbing his warmth, until I remember the original intention I had.

I try to move a little closer to his ear. "Loki." I whisper. He doesn't even lift a finger. "Loki, wake up." Loki grumbles softly. The deep sound sends goosebumps all over my body, and I shiver from the effect Loki has on me. "Loki." I whisper again, this time a little more urgently. Why isn't he waking up?

Slowly, I grow impatient. I thought he was the god of mischief, not the god of deep sleep. I wriggle around a little more in hopes of being able to shift my position, when suddenly Loki's hand shoots forward and grabs my waist, holding me in place. "Lie still!" He grumbles. His voice sounds rough and sleepy and makes my eyes widen.

"Loki, I have to get up. Bruce wants to remove the tracker, remember?" Reluctantly, Loki releases his arms from me and shifts his weight down from me. Relieved and also slightly disappointed, I roll to the other side of the bed and stretch my limbs before making my way to the bathroom.

Behind me, I hear Loki sit up in bed and finally get up as well. I turn around, and my back hits the wall when Loki backs me against it with a playful expression in his eyes. "I'm going to take a shower." He winks at me. "Care to join?"

I'm at a loss for words and can feel my face heat up. "You wish." I squeak the only words that pop into my head. I curse my voice for sounding so shrill and uncertain. Loki chuckles. "Indeed." With that, he squeezes past me, and a few seconds later, I hear the water rushing. What the hell?

Armed with a towel and fresh clothes, I finally knock on Nat's door, who opens for me sleepily. "What are you doing?" She asks confusedly as I cross her quarters. "I'm going to take a shower." "You have your own bathroom, you know?" She reminds me and takes a sip of coffee from her cup.

"It's occupied." I say dryly. Suddenly more alert, Nat pulls me away from the door to the bathroom and looks at me curiously. "By who?" Pure curiosity graces her face and makes me roll my eyes. "By the one who always creates chaos. "Tony?!" Nat's eyes go wide.

"What? No!" "Phew, I was beginning to think I wouldn't be able to look Tony in the eye again." "Eww, Nat!" I playfully hit her, and she laughs. "Nothing happened." I tell her. "Then who is it?" Nat wants to know. "Loki." I admit quietly.

"I think he just wants to annoy me a bit." "Why? What did he do?" Nat's curiosity has risen to the next level. "He invited me to shower with him and then just occupied my bathroom." I complain.

Nat's eyes grow wide. She seems to have forgotten the coffee in her cup. All her attention is now on me. "And you declined?!" To my surprise, she seems kind of upset about it. "Of course I did!" I reply. "What else was I supposed to do?" "You should have accepted his offer!" She gets upset. "But why?" "Y/n, Loki is a fucking god!"

"So what?" I retort stubbornly, which only elicits a sigh from Nat. "Would you have taken the chance?" I ask her to which she shakes her head no. Confused I tilt my head. "And what makes me different that you think I should have said yes?" "There is quite a dynamic between you." Nat shrugs.

"There's absolutely nothing between us." I protest. "We're just..." My hands waggle aimlessly through the air as I run out of words. Yeah, what are we, friends? Something else? Nat sighs again. "Just go take a shower." As the door slams shut behind me, I catch a few more words from Nat that sound suspiciously like "crazy" and "once in a lifetime".

The hot water running down my skin feels heavenly and I start to think about what would have happened if I'd joined Loki. His offer seemed serious, despite the playful tone and his signature smirk. Would we just have showered, or would have happened... more?

For a brief moment, I allow my mind to think about how it could have been. I close my eyes and can almost feel his big hands on my skin, his long, slender fingers spreading and slowly wandering down my back... I open my eyes. Do I want this? I have no answer to that.

Locking this exact thought far away, I wrap myself into the fluffy towel I brought and step out of the tiled shower, noticing that there's no bathtub like my bathroom has. But to be honest, I couldn't imagine Natasha Romanoff soaking in a bubble bath.

Slightly chuckling, I put on my clothes and make my way back to my room. There's not a trace of him. The bed is neatly made and there's no sound coming from the bathroom. Only the wet tiles in my shower I notice when I return my towel to where it belongs and the faint smell of him that still lingers in the air in my whole apartment prove, that he's actually been here.

The kitchen is in chaos as I step through the door and squeeze in between Wanda and Thor, trying to push the massive god aside a bit to get to the fridge. "Thor!" I whine when he doesn't respond. He seems more preoccupied with the half-empty box of Poptarts sitting on the kitchen counter in front of him.

"My apologies, Lady Y/n" Satisfied, I open the fridge as Thor finally slides a little to the side. "Tony!" I screech. "Where's my yoghurt?" I turn around and see Tony sitting at the table. He has an innocent expression on his face and is provocatively toasting me with the almost empty yoghurt pot. "Oops. Was that yours?" He asks and spoons up the rest of the yoghurt with relish.

"Too bad." Tony grins before standing up. "I'll see you in Bruce's Lab in thirty minutes." And with that he is gone. With my mouth open, I stare at the empty door frame. How dare he steal my yoghurt! Grumbling, I steal one of Thor's poptarts and pour some cereal into a bowl, which I now have to eat with milk instead of yoghurt.

Exactly twenty-nine minutes later, I am standing in the doorway to Bruce's lab. Tony and the scientist are talking quietly to each other and to my surprise Loki is also leaning against the wall, listening attentively to the two.

I clear my throat to draw attention to myself, whereupon the conversation falls silent and everyone turns to me. Bruce nods at me and waves me over. "Y/n." He greets me before Tony takes the floor. "Ready?" He asks and I nod, however my questioning look in Loki's direction does not escape him.

"Rudolph here," Tony taps Loki on the shoulder, which looks rather ridiculous due to the enormous size difference and causes Loki to narrow his eyes, which is probably more due to the nickname. "Rudolph here will make sure nothing happens to your spine."

My confusion seems to be reflected in my eyes as Loki pushes himself off the wall and tries to explain to me what Tony is actually trying to say. "The tin can has been tinkering with the junk here." He raises his arms and I see the barely perceptible glint of the thin handcuffs that keep Loki's magic in check. "I can use my seidr again."

"What is Seidr?" I want to know. "Absolutely no idea." Tony chimes in." "Seidr," Loki pauses to give Tony a withering look, "is a powerful form of magic. Among other things, it is used for healing." "Ah." I don't really understand, but the three of them surely know what they're doing. At least I hope so.

"You'd have to take your shirt off." Bruce explains to me. I nod. I didn't expect anything else, how else is he going to get to my back? I sit down on the couch and reach for the hem of my shirt when Jarvis suddenly puts Clint through on the intercom. He is out of breath and seems quite upset.

"Tony, we have a problem. Nat has found an intruder. He's desperate to get to Y/n and claims it's important." Tony sighs. "I'll be right back." He calls over his shoulder before disappearing. I pull my shirt over my head and feel Loki's gaze on me as I lie down on my stomach, facing away from Loki.

I feel strangely exposed under Loki's eyes. I feel his gaze travel down my body and look around for Bruce, who is busy with a screen in a far corner of the room. I hope that everything will be all right. That Bruce knows what he is doing is clear to me, but I also know that Tony has put Bruce under a lot of pressure and that combination somehow scares me. What if something goes wrong?

Two fingers suddenly brush the hair from my face, grazing my neck very lightly before the matching hand comes to rest on the middle of my back. I realise immediately who the slender fingers belong to. "It's going to be okay." Says Loki, who must have sensed my nervousness.

Before I can say anything in reply, Tony comes back and Loki hastily takes a few steps back. He has a laptop tucked under his arm. He talks briefly with Bruce before opening the device and pressing a few keys. "What's this?" I want to know from Tony. "A laptop." Tony states the obvious.

"I'm going to need some answers from you once we're done here. Like how our intruder knew about the bomb and how he happens to know how to jam your implant's signal momentarily." He presses enter and the familiar, strange feeling in my back appears. "Caden?" I ask. "Exactly." Tony replies and Loki's eyebrows furrow.