Half-aware of being carried, Summer roused enough to blink at Loki as they entered his rooms. “Where … ?” she managed, trying to look around. “This … ” She flailed a hand loosely.
“Ah, you’re awake,” he tried to sound nonchalant, laying her on the guest bed. The room was luxuriously furnished and decorated with a sort of organized chaos; papers and books everywhere, a small pile of rune stones on a desk, a tall window with heavy drapes blocking out any view, some sort of tangle of device parts in one corner, as if Loki worked as an inventor in his spare time. He paid no attention to the clutter as he shoved random objects aside as he lay her down.
“I did not know where you lived, so I brought you here. And I insist you stay until you have recovered.” His voice was catching. He wasn’t sure what was the matter with him. He suddenly wanted to be rid of her, to be alone with his guilt, drown in his own selfishness.
The old lemonade taste of remorse washed through her mind. Summer managed a grimace, and raised a hand to Loki’s face. “Loki? I’m okay. Promise.” The hand trembled a little. “It’s a sugar crash, okay? What I do takes energy, that’s all. Shh, darlin’.” A little smile curled her lips. Here she was, shaking with lack of energy, and trying to comfort him. How funny.
How familiar.
A little stroke of his cheek, and she let her hand fall. “Can you … help me out a bit? Out of my armour, at least?”
He curled long fingers around hers and dropped her hand back down, sternly. ”I am no fool,” he murmured low, and began working at the buckles of her armour. ”What you did for me was beyond anything…” he unlaced her boots, slipping them off delicately. “No one has ever been so strong at my side….” He slipped off her bracers, one by one. ”I am not sure why I even asked you to come with me. And yet I knew that you would. I hardly know you, Summer, yet I knew, somehow…” he gently lifted her up as he took off her chest piece and lay her back down under him. He felt his blood rushing through his veins and it was unnerving.
“Why would you do that for me? Did you expect a grand reward, perhaps?” he slid his fingers through a piece of her hair, toying with her to lessen the heaviness of the moment.
“You asked.” Her smile was simple and sweet, unclouded by any other thing. “You showed me your pain, and you asked for help.” She snuggled a bit deeper into the blankets, letting her arms flop wide. “It’s what I do, Loki.” With a quick touch of fingers on his, she let him feel what she was feeling. “I care.
“I’m not really powerful or anything, I just … care. About people. About their hurting. You’re free now.”
“That is a powerful thing. It is also dangerous, you know,” he said, and ghosted his fingers over her cheek. ”You know this.”
He was mesmerized then by how her eyes seemed to glow faintly, as if backlit. The room was dim and she was a flame even so. To have someone care for him…to fight for him, beside him, by his command…it was more than humbling. It was crippling. He had no idea how to handle it. How could he ever thank her for caring?
Leaning down to her lips, he stole a small, careful kiss.
Surprise jolted new energy into Summer’s blood. The kiss itself wasn’t entirely unexpected; the god of mischief and lies would surely manipulate by attraction. He’d already tried it on her, just before Thanos’ first attack, after all.
No, the surprise came from his motivation.
The adrenaline, the touch, the kiss … it all heterodyned in a dizzying surge of desire. She hummed softly, low in her throat, and looped an arm about Loki’s shoulders. One kiss stolen, one kiss given — when he tried to pull away, she pushed upward and kissed him, with no caution at all.