Training with Loki takes an unexpected turn when things get out of hand.

...

Training with Loki was your favourite.

It was a rare occasion too, which only made you look forward to it even more when you were both free on the same day. It was odd when you thought about it, you always finished absolutely shattered, probably injured and ready for a long sleep, yet you preferred it to training with anyone else. It also made sense though, because Loki was the only one who didn't treat it like a lesson, who wasn't scared to get hurt, or for you to get a bit hurt either for that matter. It was the most likely training to help you in real life, compared to your training with Steve, who would tell you exactly what he was about to do and how you should react before either of you had even moved. You knew he meant well, but it was too unrealistic, what attacker told you how he was about to attempt to try and stab you before he did it?

So that was why you liked training with Loki. Well, one of the reasons. It would be a lie if you said you didn't find Loki a teeny tiny bit attractive. Obviously that wasn't the only reason you... felt things, for him. He was funny, in a sarcastic kind of way (your favourite kind), and just all round mysterious. Being unable to pinpoint exactly what it was about him that you liked so much was driving you crazy; you were just determined to find out about him. The attractive part wasn't doing anything to help.

This point was to be proven to you in about five seconds time. You were already in the training room, looking out one of the floor to ceiling windows stretching across an entire wall of the room, contemplating the view and thinking about, well, the attractive part. The attractive eyes to be specific.

You were deep in thought, when all of a sudden your feet weren't on the floor anymore. You let out a gasp of surprise as you were flipped off of your feet, and hit the floor hard, on your back. Then you were looking up into said attractive eyes. He'd bought you swiftly back down to Earth, literally.

"Never get distracted when there's a possibility of danger." Loki told you, holding out his hand with a smirk. Glaring at him and ignoring the ache in your back, you knocked his hand away and struggled to your feet.

"I didn't do anything wrong then. I don't consider you dangerous." you said haughtily, clenching your jaw as you faced him and noticed how especially good he looked this morning. Typical. Did he ever have a bad hair day?

"Well you should." he countered, holding back a smile as he watched you roll your eyes. You were the only person around here who made him want to smile. It was odd. He had learnt to tolerate these people at the compound since they'd started being civil towards him, and maybe even enjoyed their company once in a while. You were one of these few people. But it was still strange, there was something different with you. Good different.

Suddenly Loki was flat on his back. He'd stared at you for a second too long and you'd taken advantage. But it was difficult to feel triumphant when your heart was racing, why had he been looking at you like that? Was it possible...? No, stop getting distracted Y/N.

"Never get distracted when there's a possibility of danger." you mimicked, putting emphasis on the word 'distracted' and holding out your hand. Big mistake. Loki grabbed your outstretched arm and flipped you over as easily as if you were a pancake, pinning you to the ground with his magic. You fought against it angrily, glaring at him from the floor as he stood up, unable to speak.

"I don't consider you dangerous." he told you, but there was no cocky smirk to accompany it, and... was he blushing?! He definitely looked flustered. There was something going on with him; you needed to find out what. A plan, you needed a plan. Suddenly the magic was lifted and you scrambled to your feet immediately, breathing hard. It was game time.

You went immediately for the attack, which he predicted, blocking everything you threw at him with precision and skill, causing you to growl in frustration and push forward, throwing all you had at him.

You were good. Too good. Loki was beginning to break, his defense becoming weaker at you advanced. He had considered letting you past, just to have the satisfaction of letting you think you had a win and then taking it from you, but now he was in danger of actually losing to you. If only you didn't look so good, he might be able to concentrate better...

Finally you broke his defense, scorching part of his face and some of his hair. Oops, maybe you should hold back a bit... but now he had turned to attack, forcing you to throw up a shield in defense. He wasn't messing around.

Now you had a plan, but you needed to be careful: it was going to hurt. You were going to let him catch you with some magic, only a bit, and pretend to be hurt. Surely you'd be able to gauge his feelings for you from his reaction to thinking you were hurt. You really hoped so, because this could be painful. You weren't playing to win this time, you just wanted answers, and if you knew Loki, this was the only way you were going to get them.

You teleported behind him, immediately hurling your magic at his back, and watched in dismay as he spun around and blocked it completely. Shit. You'd never tried that before, and it hadn't made you feel amazing. Just as you thought you might be sick, a blast of green magic rocketed towards you and hit you square in the chest.

It was like an out of body experience. The pain that you felt was immense, and there was nothing you could do as you felt yourself slam backwards into the floor. Then your head split open. Okay, maybe that was being a bit dramatic, but that's what it felt like to your already battered body.

Your vision was fuzzy, and you could hear a loud ringing inside your brain, so loud you thought you might go deaf from it. There was a sharp throbbing pain in the back of your head. Squeezing your eyes shut, you tried to focus on something other than the pain. It was difficult.

"Y/N, Y/N, open your eyes, look at me, gods..."

Loki's blurry face came swimming into view as you opened your eyes slowly. The ringing was getting quieter as he talked to you, but the pain wouldn't fade. Your head felt warm and fuzzy... and sticky. Blood.

Loki's face was white as he dropped to his knees next to you. There was so much blood. He had done this to you.

"Keep – just keep your eyes open okay? Concentrate on me, don't close your eyes..." he talked nonsense as he put his hands over your head, not knowing what he was doing.

Fix her. You have to fix her.

He watched in terror as your eyelids fluttered, your body was trying to shut down.

"Y/N, please, try – keep your eyes open. Look at me." he pleaded, placing a hand on your cheek.

You reluctantly forced your eyes open and concentrated your gaze on Loki. Shaking, panicking Loki. The corner of your mouth quirked into a pained smile.

"What? What- why are you..."

"You like me."

The magic that he was using to dull the pain faltered, and you gasped in pain as the full force of your impact seemed to hit you once again.

"Sorry! I'm sorry..." Loki directed the healing magic back to your head, having been too momentarily stunned to breathe, let alone perform magic. He moved his hand from your cheek back over to your head, wanting to heal you as quickly as possible, but kept his eyes fixed on your face.

"So you admit it?" you croaked, watching him intently, the pain from your head getting better by the second.

"Of course I like you Y/N, why do you think I train with you-"

"That's not what I meant."

He knew. Staying silent, he avoided your gaze while he finished healing you.

"I'm fine, it feels okay now-"

"Don't move." Loki told you, sharper than intended, as you tried to move away from his hands.

You didn't argue with him.

After another minute, the pain had almost completely faded, and Loki finally took his hands away from you head.

"You're okay, just be careful with-"

"Thanks." you said shortly, sitting up and getting to your feet.

"Y/N -"

"I'm fine Loki! Just, oh-"

You turned to face him and instead saw the pool of scarlet blood on the floor which was meant to be inside your head. Your knees didn't like that one bit, and decided that they didn't work anymore. A pair of strong arms appeared around you as you headed for the floor for the fourth time that day, and you were pushed into a chair which had conveniently been summoned from thin air.

"Sit." Loki said, waving a hand to make the blood disappear. Then he pulled another chair out of thin air and sat next to you.

"I don't do blood." you whispered, closing your eyes, trying to get the image out of your head.

"I know." Loki whispered back, and you looked sideways at him, fighting back a smile.

"Y/N, I'm so sorry, I didn't- I mean, I would never intentionally..."

You thought about letting him struggle on, but then thought against it.

"It's fine Loki, I know it was an accident."

He was shaking his head, and you suddenly feared what he would say next.

"We can't do this again, it's too-"

"If you say dangerous I'm getting up and leaving." you threatened, pointing towards the door. "I love training with you, you're the only one who doesn't treat me like a porcelain doll! All the others are too scared of getting hurt, or hurting me – what we do, it's proper training."

"I hurt you." he said simply, as if that decided at, looking down at his hands.

"And then you fixed me. I'm fine. So we know how you would react in the field if that had happened for real."

Loki definitely went red this time. The thought of showing that much... emotion, in front of the other mortals. It didn't appeal to him one bit.

"Loki."

He looked at you, confused at your impatient tone.

"Read my mind."

You watched as confusion spread across his features.

"Just do it." you said, leaning forward to grab his hand.

He opened his mouth, closed it, and then carefully delved into your mind, watching your expression in amusement as you felt what it was like to have your mind read for the first time.

You watched Loki's face intently as he read your mind, resisting the urge to pull away from the weird sensation you were experiencing. Confusion was the main emotion you saw, and... awe? Your heart was racing.

Eventually he pulled away and refocused on your eyes rather than your forehead. He would really have liked to have kissed you, but couldn't move. He also couldn't speak. It was most unhelpful.

"I- " Nope. He really couldn't talk.

"Just – do you like me, shake for no, nod for yes." you told him, nearing desperation. You needed an answer.

He let out a puff of air and made a face that said, 'isn't it obvious?' And nodded. He frowned while he did it, but it was still a nod.

You'd take a nod.

Your face broke into the most relieved, gorgeous smile he'd ever seen, and then you tried to subdue it, embarrassed. He shook his head with a smile, unable to comprehend it. You... liked him?

"Help me back to my room? I think I need to lie down." you asked with a smile.

"Yes, of course." Loki said, or rather, croaked. You bit back a laugh and let him help you up; you still felt quite light-headed.

Once you were at your room, he paused awkwardly outside your door, still holding on to you.

"I'll be okay." you assured him, detaching yourself from his arm and opening the door to your apartment.

He nodded and seemed to be struggling for the right words. You loved shell-shocked Loki. It was so peaceful.

"I'm- I don't, sorry." he finished dejectedly, watching you apologetically.

"I don't do blood, you don't do talking about your feelings. It's cool." you smiled at him.

Loki actually felt his heart leave his ribcage for a moment.

"We'll talk later, okay?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Bye then." you smiled, slipping into your apartment and closing the door.

Once on the other side you pressed and hand to your mouth, feeling pure elation swell up through your stomach and into your throat, causing you to have to fight down a giggle. You listened out for Loki moving away from your door, but no sound emerged. After about ten seconds, you swung back around and opened the door again; Loki was stood there with his fist raised, having been about to knock again. You looked up at him, at those eyes. Those said attractive eyes.

An then, quite suddenly, he was kissing you, and you weren't sure why or how he'd plucked up the courage but you weren't about to ask him, you just kissed him back, pushing your hand up through his hair and feeling his hand tighten around the back of your neck, enjoying the feel of his lips against yours...

Then he wasn't kissing you anymore. You missed it.

"Someone's coming." Loki said, pushing you back into your apartment swiftly and shutting the door quietly behind him, immediately reaching for you again.

"Shh, wait." you whispered with a grin, listening to the footsteps come and go outside.

Once they had gone, you looked at each other again.

"I don't know what I'm doing." Loki said.

"That makes two of us." you replied with a smile.

But, you thought, as he reached to kiss you again, it wasn't a bad position to be in. You'd finally found out about Loki, and it had only taken him nearly killing you to do it. Result.