Author's note: Hey guys! A super early update today because I drank a whole bottle of energy drink at like 11pm and now it's 2:21am and I'm wide awake XD I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter, let me know what you thought in the comments; I love reading them as always <3 Also, you should go and check out 'The Adventures of Loki and his Commander' by @AahanaSwrup if you're on the hunt for some amazing Loki fanfic! 

...

"Thor, calm down."

You had said a swift goodbye to Loki and ushered Thor from the room towards the elevator as quickly as you could, wishing to avoid any unfortunate incidents involving the two brothers and a knife Loki had been about to conjure.

"I cannot! This is brilliant news, how long have you been, I mean – was it Asgard? When...?"

"Thor, please." you grinned, holding up a hand.

"It wasn't Asgard, it was Christmas Eve -"

"I knew it!"

"Although, it would have been Asgard, if you and the Warriors Three hadn't intervened..." you remembered, grinning at the horrified expression on his face.

"What do you mean?! When?"

"After the dancing, Loki and I were outside my room and Volstagg knocked something over and broke it."

"And that was... you were – and we...?"

"Yep. Thanks for that, by the way." you added sarcastically.

"I was slightly drunk, I don't recall..."

"Slightly sounds like a bit of an understatement." you smirked.

"So, tell me..."

Unfortunately, it was at that moment you reached the penthouse, and the elevator doors slid open.

"You're not getting away with this. I want to talk to you later on." Thor told you sternly, but unable to keep the smile from his face. His excitement was affecting you, making you smile widely.

"Okay, but listen, don't tell the others yet. Please."

Thor's face fell.

"Why not?"

"I think you know. I doubt the others will be as pleased as you are."

"You're right. I won't say anything."

"Thank you."

Thor pulled you to one side as you stepped out of the elevator and into the corridor leading to the penthouse; you turned to look at him in surprise.

"Y/N, you and Loki... he – it's..." he faltered, searching for the right words.

You smiled, hearing what he was trying to say in your mind very clearly, feeling his happiness and relief as though it was your own. Placing a hand on his arm to stop him talking, you nodded.

"I get it."

Thor suddenly enveloped you in a very tight hug. You returned it in surprise, abruptly feeling an unexpected swell of emotion in your chest. He released you just as swiftly and grinned widely.

"Let's get drunk."

You entered the crowded penthouse and rejoined the others, and had barely started on your first drink when...

Are you okay?

Yes, why?

I felt something. A feeling which wasn't mine.

Thor and I had a moment.

There was a pause in which you would have bet your life on the fact that Loki was rolling his eyes.

Are you on the roof?

In the penthouse.

Last time you tried to talk to me from up there you said it gave you a headache.

You'd forgotten about that. You were talking to him now as clearly and easily as if you were sat next to each other. All of a sudden Tony appeared by your side and steered you towards a large crowd of people, introducing you.

Have fun.

And you did. The party didn't properly kick off until about ten, when the music got turned up and the lights turned down, and the dancing started. You, Bucky and Nat convinced Steve and Bruce to do shots which was one of the funniest things you had ever witnessed, and then you danced for about an hour which brought you to ten past eleven. You were having such a good time you didn't even notice right away when Loki joined the party. It was only when you were dragged back over to the bar by Bucky that you noticed a familiar looking face leaning against the wall, his eyes on you.

"Bertrand!" you laughed, leaving Bucky to make a beeline for Loki.

"You look dapper as ever." you grinned, running a finger down his tie and thinking back to the first party all those months ago when you'd first realised you could see through his illusions. That seemed like a million years ago. You hadn't had a lot to drink, but you were having to squint a bit to see Loki's face properly through the illusion. He looked vaguely annoyed.

"Thank you. You seem to be having fun."

"I am! Will you do shots with us?" you asked as Bucky yelled at you from the bar.

"No."

"Yay!"

You pulled him over to the bar with you and handed him a shot glass, picking up one for yourself and clinking glasses with Bucky.

"Me too!" Tony yelled, appearing from the dancing crowd and grabbing another shot.

You all drank and pulled the obligatory faces as the liquid burnt the back of your throats. Loki hardly winced, whereas you squeezed your eyes shut and pursed your lips at the taste.

"Let's goo!" you yelled, turning to return to the dancefloor, but Loki held you back.

"What?" you shouted over the music. Suddenly you were on the roof. You half fell against Loki, who caught you. It was freezing out here.

"Lok- Bertrand!" you exclaimed, lowering your voice dramatically when you realised other people were on the roof too. Luckily no one seemed to have noticed that two people had just materialized out of thin air.

"I asked you not to do that! And anyone could have seen us just disappear or reappear! You're not even meant to be able to use your magic; someone could see." you reeled off, pushing him away from you.

"They can't see us." he told you, and you realised that you were invisible.

"That's not the point."

"Sorry, I know." he apologised, looking so put out by your outburst that you immediately moved back towards him.

"I just don't want you to get into trouble." you muttered.

"I know." he repeated, pulling you into an embrace. Something was wrong.

"What is it? Why did you bring me out here?"

He may not have opened his mind completely, but that didn't stop you from hearing the rush of thoughts which sprang to the forefront of his mind as you asked him the question.

"I should've stayed downstairs. Couldn't you hear all of their thoughts down there? I wasn't even trying to, but because they're all drunk they have no filter."

He was jealous. You pulled away from him so that you could look at his face properly.

"I'm not jealous, I just didn't need to hear a bunch of Midgardians thinking inappropriate things about you which -"

"Okay, okay. We'll call it being protective rather than jealous, shall we?" you teased; Loki scowled.

"I'm not going to pretend that it doesn't bother me." he told you plainly, and the smile fell from your face.

"I can't do anything apart from reassure you that you have nothing to worry about." you told him, entwining your fingers with his, and then involuntarily shivered violently. It was so cold. He drew you back into his arms and rested his chin on the top of your head.

You're mine.

Whether he had meant for you to hear this or not was entirely irrelevant; you felt as if a few thousand volts of electricity had just surged their way through your veins and quite possibly stopped your heart for good. The cold instantly vanished from your skin, which was now flushed. You looked up at him and he looked back; there was a look in his eye which you hadn't seen before. The kiss was different, good different, charged by the electricity running through you and then something shifted in the air around you; you were holding on to each other so tightly and the kiss was so deep and profound that you found yourself going slightly lightheaded.

Suddenly the temperature increased dramatically and when you opened your eyes you were all the way back downstairs in the living room, the noise of the party reduced to just the throbbing sound of the bass. Loki didn't miss a beat, letting himself fall back on to the sofa and pulling you down with him so that you ended up on his lap. You giggled as he started kissing along your jaw and down the curve of your neck.

"You should know that I don't usually let strangers pull me from a party and seduce me." you whispered, sounding only slightly breathless.

"Why are you whispering?" he whispered back, bringing his lips back to yours almost hungrily.

You shifted closer to him as he kissed you again, tangling your hand in his hair at the base of his neck and causing him to make an unholy sound in the back of his throat, which did nothing to help your situation.

I want you.

Your eyes flew open to meet his gaze, which looked almost dazed as he took you in. You weren't exactly sober, but this wasn't a drunken mistake you were going to regret in the morning. It was Loki. He heard this thought process and looked at you in such a way that for a few seconds you entirely forgot how to breathe. You nodded almost imperceptibly, and in one swift motion Loki stood up with you in his arms and carried you towards his room.

You sent a quick prayer up to the sky that none of the others would come looking for you, and then Loki was kicking the door shut behind you.

...

Afterwards, the only reason you made the effort to return to the party was because it was almost midnight, and you were conscious of the fact you'd been missing for a while; soon the others would begin to wonder where you'd got to. You persuaded a reluctant Loki back upstairs with you, firmly stating that you wanted him to watch the fireworks with you and it wasn't just because you couldn't be bothered to walk.

Once on the roof you left Loki (who was now disguised as Bertrand again) briefly to find Nat and the others, all of whom seemed relieved that you hadn't been kidnapped but hadn't been worried enough to leave the party and search for you.

"There are three minutes to go! Quick, find a drink." Nat exclaimed, casting around for anything alcoholic and eventually grabbing your arm and following Clint to the temporary bar which had been set up on the roof. She bequeathed upon you a glass of champagne, and you swiped another one stealthily before making your way back over to Loki/Bertrand, handing him one of the glasses.

"Two minutes." you told him, stamping your feet and rubbing your arms to try and find some warmth. Luckily, Bertrand came equipped with a jacket which was soon around your shoulders, along with his arms as the countdown started.

As the clock struck midnight, there was a resounding yell of "Happy New Year!" from the crowd, and then everyone was kissing and hugging and drinking. Loki was shaking his head, once again marveling at the absurdity of Midgardian traditions; making you laugh.

"Happy New Year." you smiled, tilting your head back and sideways to view his bewildered expression affectionately. He kissed your forehead, and then you both jumped and the first firework exploded above your heads. There was an 'oooh' from the crowd, and you turned your face skywards instead to watch the display. It lasted for about ten minutes, and you found yourself wishing that you could capture the moment and keep it in a jar; you were so happy. And only a little bit drunk.

After the display and applause, everyone piled back down into the warm penthouse for more drinking and dancing; you and 'Bertrand' were roped into doing more shots after being told you weren't drunk enough by Tony. You weren't entirely sure that the others had realised that Bertrand was actually Loki, but you decided not to mention it. They didn't need to know.

The night slowly descended into chaos, which was only to be expected. Things started to get a bit blurry just after you and Thor attempted to dance the Asgardian dance you had learnt on Asgard, knocking a few people over as you went. Then Bucky wanted to learn it, so you taught him, shouting instructions over the deafening music in the middle of a dancing crowd. There was a lot of laughing, so much that your stomach ached. Following that you did more shots with Nat and Clint, and then things became too blurry to even try and remember. Had Loki been dancing? Something about stairs. Things went completely black after having pulled some blinds or curtains down to block out the sunlight which was streaming through a window.

...

A blinding pain woke you up. At first your dazed mind thought that it might have just been your body aching from the night before, but then a wave of pain so intense washed over you that you cried out and sat bolt upright, reaching out for something to hold on to. You felt as though you were on fire. The minute you opened your eyes however, the pain ebbed and then vanished. Your eyes were watering, you'd never felt anything like that before in your life.

Unfortunately, the moment that pain had vanished a new sort of pain arrived in the form of a splitting headache. You closed your eyes and pressed your palms into your eyes, groaning. When you opened them again you took in your surroundings properly. You were in Loki's room, but on the floor, wearing an interesting combination of both yours and Loki's pajamas. A familiar looking hand hanging over the side of the duvet next to your head suggested that Loki had made it on to the bed where you had not. Smiling, you tried to recall any memories of drunk Loki, but you drew a blank. Shit, what if he hadn't kept the illusion up while he'd been drunk? Anyone could have seen... but no, everyone would have been too drunk to notice last night.

Hopefully.

Slowly, so slowly, you stood, glancing at the clock which read 8:30am. It had been light when you'd fallen asleep... which meant you'd only been sleeping for a few hours, maybe less. That would explain why you were still bone tired. You wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with Loki and go back to sleep for at least half a day, but before you'd even sat down on the bed you realised something was wrong.

Really wrong.

Loki was asleep, but he was frowning and his jaw was set; there was a vein throbbing at his right temple. Even as you watched he turned his head to one side, making a face which looked as though he was in pain, and then his whole body convulsed. He was having a nightmare, and a bad one.

"Loki." you said, or rather tried to say, making a rasping noise which made your eyes water the first time round. You cleared your throat, only now realising how thirsty you were, but you had more important issues to deal with first.

"Loki." you said again, moving to sit on the bed and placed a hand on his arm, shaking him gently. He didn't wake up. You couldn't leave him like this, he looked awful. It was then you realised what was so wrong. His arm was warm, almost the same temperature as yours.

Alarm bells were ringing loud and clear in your head.

"Loki, wake up." you said, slightly louder than before, gripping his arm.

Please. No – I can't...

Fear gripped you as you realised what was happening.

The pain you had felt when you'd woken up hadn't been your own, and Loki wasn't experiencing a nightmare.

It was a memory.