What happened to Loki? Well, let's find out. Enjoy xo

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Loki strained to peel his eyes open; they were heavy and black edged into his vision. He couldn't move, his limbs leaden, but he finally blinked his vision clear and a grey ceiling came into view. He furrowed his brow, confused and too disoriented to try and make sense of anything. He looked to his left, saw the sure line of Clint's body in bed, the thin sheet hanging comfortably on him and he sighed. "Darling," he turned onto his side and reached towards his lover, "I had the worst-"

Clint was on his feet in an instant, bow pulled from under the bed and an arrow poised at Loki before the god was cognizant enough to even drop the hand he'd reached out. "You have three seconds to tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now," Clint warned.

Loki pushed up into a sitting position and shrugged like that was a terrible joke. "Because I love you," he reasoned like it was obvious.

Clint's bow faltered, lowering just a tiny bit as his face took on blatant shock, but in the next moment he was composed and his bow was steady again. "Stop talking," he ordered.

"Excuse me," Loki countered, "but you asked. Clint, this isn't funny. Put that down and come to bed."

Incredulousness took over Clint's features. "I'm not going anywhere near you, asswipe. How did you even get in here?"

Loki shook his head, weary but sure Clint wouldn't hurt him, and stood from the bed. A bed that didn't feel like theirs, he noted. "I know today did not go as planned, but I am well," Loki assured him. "You do not have to fear." He patted his hands over his chest and stomach. "I am whole."

Clint pulled the string of the bow a little tauter. "Not for long unless you explain why you're here and haven't tried to kill me yet."

Loki scoffed, aiming for a laugh but not finding any hint of a joke on Clint's face so it fell flat. "My hawk, I-"

"Don't fucking call me that. Where do you get off?"

Loki smirked then, the opportunity too good to pass up. "Inside you mostly, but sometimes you enjoy it across your chest," Loki teased, eyes roaming over Clint's body hungrily. Clint had always encouraged his humor, saying he never laughed enough when they'd first met. It didn't appear as if Clint appreciated the joke though. Loki assessed Clint's narrowed gaze; the more he roamed, the more confused Loki became. 

Clint was shirtless, almost always was in his sleep, but he looked different. Loki ran his eyes down the length of Clint's body, taking in each scar and bruise. Then he diverted them to the room they both stood in. They were on either side of a bed, a full not a queen like in their apartment. The walls and ceiling were a dull grey, not the peaceful seafoam green they'd decided on when they moved in. The window was in the wrong place and smaller. 

Loki brought his eyes back to Clint, who was practically vibrating he was so tense. "You look like him, but you are not."

"Don't try to trick me. I'm not buying it. I don't care what-"

"You have wounds I do not know on him. I have memorized every mark on my lover's body and those are unfamiliar to me." Loki started to walk around the bed, ignoring Clint's demanded to stop; don't move. He came to stand inches from Clint, the tip of his arrow pointing directly at his face. "Your skin is pure where he is marred with scars- ones I gave him, ones I cleaned and healed for him." The god didn't want to think about what all of that meant, but there were few options leading to the current situation; he did not like any of them. 

"The fuck are you talking about, Loki?"

"You are not my Clint Barton."

Clint actually laughed then, a sharp bark that shifted his hold on his bow for a half second. "Not anymore, buddy. You can thank my many therapists for that."

Loki felt his heart rate increase. He was further from Clint- his Clint- than he'd been in years, and if he was remembering the moments before he passed out correctly, his lover would be distraught and alone wherever he was. "I have to leave." He turned and started to walk towards the door.

"Not a chance," Clint argued and then Loki felt the small familiar whoosh of an arrow flying by millimeters from his body before it notched firmly in the wood of the door. Loki turned and Clint already had another arrow pulled from nowhere, placed, and was aiming it at him.

"I do not belong here," Loki informed him.

"Yeah, duh. There's not a reason in the world you would belong in my bedroom, but I can't just let you leave."

Loki sighed, long-suffering but somehow patient. "Clint, I could not stand to hurt you." The archer scoffed. "Please, do not do this."

"Fat chance, Silvertongue." Clint said the nickname with the hatred Loki had heard from his own people for the majority of his life. 

Loki felt a bubble of disdain he hadn't felt towards Clint since the beginning rise to the surface. He had to remember that this wasn't the man he loved and Clint could very well have every right to behave as he was towards Loki. Knowing himself, Clint likely had very good reason to be wary around him. "Do not call me that, Hawk."

"You called me darling!" Clint shuddered at the memory.

"I wasn't calling you darling. I was talking to...Nevermind. I am going to leave this room and be gone from you. Do not concern yourself with me, I hope to be home within the day."

Clint huffed his own sigh and lowered his bow a tiny bit. "You're not understanding. You're not leaving."

Loki leveled him plainly. "I am."

Clint reaimed. "You're not."

The god swiped a hand and Clint's bow flung from his hands and onto the bed, leaving Clint shocked. "I am." He turned and moved towards the door, but he could hear Clint running at him. He swerved out of the way of Clint's first punch, letting the archer fall into the door, before pushing him back just hard enough to clear the way out. Clint came back quickly, throwing punches and lashing out with a kick or two, each one deflected easily by Loki's hands or magic. 

Loki knew how Clint fought; he'd spent years fighting beside him. This Clint was similar in many ways, if not more enthusiastic than usual. Clint only became more determined, though, the more that Loki used his defenses. "Fight back!" Clint demanded.

"I will not harm you," Loki miffed between swats and blocks.

Clint pulled a roundhouse the god wasn't expecting, knocking Loki's head sideways and pooling his mouth with blood, much to Loki's surprise. "Since when?"

Loki gritted his teeth and breathed. He spat the blood onto the floor and knocked away another punch. "Clint, you are testing me."

Clint smiled at that. "Good to know." Another move Loki didn't recognize landed an elbow to Loki's ribs, making him double over enough for Clint to knee him under the chin. Loki stumbled back, angry. He wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve and set his hands alight with green swirls of magic, though it took more effort than he wanted to admit. 

"Take care, Hawk. I still do not wish to hurt you, but if you will not cede, I will be forced to put you down." Loki launched a stunning spell at Clint, but it glanced past his shoulder as he ducked. 

"I will never surrender to you."

Loki raised a brow at that. If only this Clint knew. "Do not speak so soon, little bird."

Clint growled and lunged at the god, coming cuff to cuff as they threw swings and spells at each other. Loki was learning that this Clint was more different from his own than he first thought. He had fighting techniques Loki wasn't as familiar with and he let his anger fuel him- something that his Clint geared away from with Loki's guidance.

Loki grabbed the wrist of the arm swinging towards him and flung Clint onto the bed. Clint rolled over and reached for his bow and the arrow that came loose from it and continued to roll off the other side of the bed. He renotched his arrow as he stood and shot it before Loki could say anything. Loki's eyes went wide, but his hand came up in time for his magic to kick the arrow off its trajectory, one that would have ended between his eyes, and land the arrow in his shoulder. 

Loki hissed and stumbled back, which Clint took advantage of and leaped over the bed. He tackled Loki to the ground, a hand going to his neck. Clint knows better than to touch me there without permission, Loki's mind screamed irrationally. He knocked Clint's hand away and wedged a knee between them to push Clint far enough off him to break the arrow off so only the end was sticking out of his body. 

Clint lurched forward again but Loki rolled out from under him and let Clint fall to the floor, crawling on top of him and pinning both hands behind his back with tight green swirls as cuffs. He placed his other hand at the back of Clint's neck and squeezed, inhaling the delicious scent of Clint's submission, involuntary or not. Loki leaned down and breathed in his ear, "Back in your rightful place, little bird."

The archer screamed and wriggled under Loki's weight, but he was pinned. "Fuck you! Don't call me that."

Loki couldn't help the pulse of his blood at seeing Clint under him like that. He hummed and stroked a thumb over the side of Clint's neck, right at his pulse point. Clint flinched away from the touch, but Loki's low, strong 'still' froze him. 

Clint swallowed hard and turned to place a hot cheek against the cool ground. His eyes flicked sideways, up at Loki, and he snarled, "Do it, dammit."

"Do what?" Loki asked as he scratched gently at Clint's scalp. He hadn't seen Clint this defiant since they first began working together. He remembered the first few times he bent Clint to his will consensually, and it made Loki's heart beat faster. 

Clint scoffed. "Kill me. Just do it, stop playing with me."

Loki gripped Clint's hip firmly and nosed along the back of his ear. "I could never. What would my existence be without you by my side?"

Clint's whole body tensed and he made a noise Loki knew meant he was giving in but fighting it. "I don't-"

The door to the bedroom splintered from its hinges, flooding the dark room with light and noise. Loki leaned down over Clint protectively, covering his head with an arm and tucking his face into his neck to shelter him from the assault. 

"Get off him, Loki!" 

That was Tony's voice, but it sounded hard like Loki hadn't heard it in a long time. The next second, Loki was being pulled off Clint's back, making his shoulder scream in pain. His first instinct was to reach for Clint, to protect him, to connect with him, but both of his arms were bound in metal fists. Clint rolled over and looked up at Loki with an expression he couldn't decern. "Are you well?" Loki asked, quiet but insistent and just for Clint, while the other Avengers filtered into the room and aimed weapons at him. 

Clint scrambled for something to say, confusion lacing the crease between his brows, but he said nothing. Loki did his own assessment in lieu of an answer, checking Clint's body for blood or wounds. When he saw none, he relaxed into Stark's hold and allowed himself to be pulled from the room. 

On the floor, Clint watched him being pulled away as he tried to reconcile the last few things Loki had said to him. Natasha was by his side in a heartbeat and helping him sit up. "You okay?"

Clint nodded even if he wasn't sure, letting Natasha help him stand. "Yeah, I think so."

"F.R.I D.A.Y. alerted us that Loki had you pinned down in your room. What the hell happened?" Natasha seemed to be doing the same scan Loki had done, checking for damage. When she came up clean, her shoulders relaxed. Clint saw her features softening out of the corner of his eyes but he was busy looking through the doorway where Loki had disappeared. 

"I have no idea."

Natasha looked back in the direction Loki had gone, following Clint's gaze. "Isn't he supposed to be dead?"

Clint didn't think about it until right then, but... "Yeah, I think so."

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YALL! I'm dead. At my own story. Good lord, you know it's too much when the author is shook. More to come. Once I get the first few chapters up to get you started, I'll update regularly at a pace you all choose if you leave it in the comments.

Mwah! Xoxo, Jess