Caffeine Rush (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 17: Lokie Dokie

Bruce and I talked for a while, with Lokitty occasionally interrupting with a meow I voice his opinion, but after about an hour, I felt sleepy enough to go to bed. If I could remember which one it was. Eh, I'd figure it out later.

Not really paying attention, I walked down the hallway that I knew led to the personal rooms. I was pretty sure that it was at the end somewhere. Was it this one? Yeah it was, that was all my stuff alright, but why was it so hot in here? I checked the thermostat and tried to change it but it reset to a boiling 80 degrees. I could fix it, but I was tired and it was hot and starting to make me blitz. Nope, not doing it, I'll just find an empty room to crash in.

I checked the one next door and upon finding it empty of any personal effects and not a sauna, I shrugged and made myself comfortable. I'd just taken off my shirt when I heard footsteps from behind me and a startled intake of breath. "What happened to your shoulder, Mrs. Sharpe?" Loki? Why was he here? This couldn't be his room, could it? No, he's been here a while, there's no way he would have left it bare.

I glanced over my shoulder to gauge his reaction but he was starring in fascination, but not his usual interested gaze, more of an appreciative awed gaze. "They're called Lichtenberg figures, scars caused by lightning strikes." They looked like ferns, somewhat floral, raised and white against my skin, they stretched from my spine to my shoulder, following the trapezius muscle over my collarbone.

"They're beautiful." I flushed, it was one thing to know that they were pretty looking, it was quite another for a handsome god to tell you so. "My brother could never create something so intricate. When were you struck?"

"A while ago, I was just a child." My genetic enhancements I'd inherited from my father had awakened that day, I was eleven and otecko hadn't gotten to me in time. Contrary to killing me, it had enhanced my natural speed in just about everything except aging. It healed me at a speed incomparable to a regular human, but I kept the Lichtenberg figures and the scars from before that. If it hadn't, my skin would look too pristine, almost alien. "I survived because it struck me between heartbeats."

"Lucky for me, what would I do without my mystery lie to unravel?"

"How's your progress coming with that?"

"You say odd things sometimes, some of them are not lies but not entirely truthful either. The event from three years ago, for example, will you tell me what really happened?" I loved his accent, I could fall asleep to it.

I turned and sat on what I now knew was his bed. There was no way he would let me get away without telling him something more. "My father gave into his obsession, I went to stop him and instead of breaking through, I was swept along as well, my uncle went after me, he was able to pull me out of it, but he died in the processes and my father followed shortly after." I could see it on his face that he knew that I left out a lot, but how could I explain Uncle T's body not being able to manage the pressure of a normal human going at such intense speeds and literally crumpling in on itself, or my father disintegrating trying to run faster than his body could handle?

That's the thing that physicists multiverse wide didn't quite understand. Being a speedster was not about the possibilities of speed, the limit was what each speedster's body could handle, but speed and mass together exerted force upon the environment, destructive force. Being a speedster was about control over all else. My father lost control. He lost control and decimated the planet so bad that it actually spun just a little bit faster, shortening the day by two hours and drastically effecting the climate. My additive speed certainly didn't help, but Uncle T was able to pull me out of it before I could do more than create an offshore tsunami by inciting the movement of an underwater tectonic plate.

"Those memories . . . they stayed with me. My loved ones, the people I thought I could trust most, turned on me, blamed me for it. They weren't wrong to, it was partially my fault, I contributed to it, I did my share of the damage done. But I . . . couldn't stay, not with the knowledge, the guilt, eating at me. So I started fresh. Somewhere new, where no one knew who I was or what I had done. That's my story."

I could see his face softening more as I told him the closest thing I could to the truth. Many Loki's had similar stories, but I felt as if this Loki could understand my circumstances, my pain, more than most. His home still existed but it would never be the same. "The first time I tried to take over a realm," sorry, wait, first time? Unexpected, but that explained a few things. "Was a misguided attempt at stepping out from my brother's shadow. I became so entrenched in the idea that Thor would not make a good king that I fooled myself into believing that I would and did everything I possibly could to realize that vision."

He sat down beside me with a soft sigh. "I went so far as to send a near indestructible Asgardian weapon after him so that he would be unable to return while I took the throne and destroyed Asgard's biggest threat, the Jotunheim."

"At the time, did you know? About your blue side?" A look I didn't recognize passed through his eyes before he nodded, slowly and cautiously, like he was expecting some huge negative reaction. He'd been chastised enough, he didn't need it from me too. "Why were you so angry?"

He seemed surprised, giving me a long look of consideration. "Most people are too outraged that I nearly destroyed an entire realm to ask why."

"I'm not most people." Most people hadn't been in similar situations to relate. "I shared my story because I trust you. Don't feel pressured to share your pain to reciprocate mine, trust works differently for everyone.
But I will wait until you're comfortable enough to do so because I want to know you."

"No one's ever said that to me before."

"You can take me up on it at any time. Let's talk about something less heavy, Lokie Dokie." His brow furrowed at the nickname and some look crossed his eyes that I couldn't quite identify. Had I used the nickname as Rush? If so, then whoops, guess he was one step closer to guessing.

"I never asked why you were in my room," Loki prompted. Not so much a question, but one that begged an answer anyway.

"Mine is too hot, didn't feel like fixing it at this time of night, extreme temperatures and me don't mix well. I'll wake up hungry and hyperactive or sluggish and fatigued depending on which extreme it is. Unpleasant either way. Your room is the perfect temperature, I just didn't know it was occupied."

"No need to leave then, I can allow my favorite mortal a night in my presence, provided that you do not encroach on my space."

I snorted, "relax, Lokie Dokie, I was about to suggest that I take the couch. I wouldn't dare presume to invite myself to share a bed with a god, but if said god wanted to join me in cat form, I would be remiss to refuse."

It was that night, after we both had called lights out and I was slowly drifting off, that I made one horrifying discovery; Loki snores.