The Old Scars | Loki Hurt/Comfort

Hello Brother

'DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME YOU KILLED SOMEBODY! WE HAD A DEAL! WE TRUSTED YOU! I... I... I EVEN CONVINCED THE AVENGERS TO TAKE YOU IN FOR YOU TO HAVE A HOME! AND WHERE IN HEL'S NAME ARE YOU?! I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING IN HERE SOMEWHERE!'

I was slightly aware of the deal Thor was talking about: After the destruction of Asgard, Thor had organized a room in the Avengers' headquarters for Loki because he felt like this would prevent him from doing 'bad stuff' again, as Tony liked to call it. The God of Mischief just had to promise one thing: No deceiving, backstabbing, killing, or hurting in any way.

Loki shot me a terrified glance, his eyes wild like those of a hunted deer, but we both knew there was nowhere to hide. His blood was by now all over the sink and the noise of Thor's hurried steps grew louder and louder. When I glanced back at Loki, I noticed a green shimmer running over his hands, and his fingertips turned transparent for a moment or two, then reappeared. As he noticed his attempt at becoming invisible had apparently failed, he visibly panicked even more. The mischievous prince of Asgard, now nothing more than an afraid and bleeding man, not capable of real magic anymore, and his only home, if you could even call it one, depends on him not doing the things he often used to do when threatened. I sensed Thor directly in front of the door and remembered the promise I gave Loki only minutes ago. 

'Pro... Promise me you won't tell them.'

Desperately my mind was trying to figure out a way to get Loki out of this delicate situation. 'Thor mustn't see!!' his body language was shouting. At the moment, Loki reminded me of that frightened little boy hiding in the corner of his parents' apartment in a Sokovian skyscraper. Luckily I had been able to rescue him with Steve's help. Seeing that terrified look again, I tried the first thing that came to my mind.

'No, Thor! Stop! It's really bad timing right now!' I shouted, hoping he'd just give us some privacy but I guess he didn't even hear me because the only things on his mind were probably the bloody daggers lying abandoned on the floor of Loki's bedroom.

Then everything happened very quickly. The door burst open with a loud crack. The son of Odin hadn't even tried the doorknob. Loki would need a whole new set of doors but that was the smallest problem right now.

'Lady Y/N, there you two are! Could you PLEASE tell me what's..." he fell silent mid-sentence and his facial expression changed from angry to puzzled within seconds.

'Thor. Could you PLEASE leave the room?' I shouted back, driven by the sudden urge to protect Loki from everyone, immediately regretting my tone of voice. This was the God of Thunder I was talking to, the king of the Nine Realms, Odin's direct successor.

Now Thor looked even more confused. This wasn't the way he knew me.

'Whose blood are you washing off my brother's arms?!' his voice reverberated in the now very quiet room. Thor's stare demanded me to answer.

I assumed he still hadn't seen the cuts.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Loki was indescribably uncomfortable. He kind of turned his forearms inwards to hide the wounds and looked down at them to avoid making eye contact with his older brother. I guessed he'd rather break the deal and be declared a murderer than letting Thor see the self-inflicted wounds on his arms.

I've always known Loki as a very confident person, especially when he was around many people, but that day everything was different. It almost looked like he was trying to hide behind my shoulder, nudging me as I did not answer Thor's question.

'My apologies, Thor, I didn't intend to shout at you. But listen, Loki did neither kill nor hurt anyone. He's still strictly following the deal you and Tony have with him. Everything is OK, but now would you mind leaving us alone?' I said, this time more calmly, in another attempt to defend the currently so helpless Loki Laufeyson from his own brother. Well, not his actual brother, but considering the situation, that wasn't important right now.