Obedience

Toni huffed, wiping her eyes in irritation. "This is stupid, it's been eleven years," she muttered stuffily. At Loki's look, she rolled her eyes. "I know, she was my mother, it's okay to cry, blah blah blah."

Loki huffed in amusement, but the sound of glass hitting the floor made them both look down and they watched as the shards of the mirror were pushed out of Toni's healing feet.

"Um... that's new." She sounded bewildered, but her face quickly scrunched in thought. Loki thought the look was cute, adorable even, but he pushed the thought away when she started muttering to herself. "Change in appearance, rapid healing, hostility and energy bursts- radiation of some sort?" She looked up at Loki. "We should go to the library... there is a library, right?"

Loki laughed (Toni felt a fresh wave of anger when the sound was muffled by the stitches) at the disgust he could hear from the mere thought that there might not be a library in Asgard. He nodded, gesturing towards the door, letting Toni pull him up by the hand and drag him from the room, pausing when she wasn't sure which way to go, and he took the lead, lightly tugging her in the direction of the vast, mostly unused library.

Coughing as dust was disturbed by the doors, Toni looked around, eyes going wide in awe; there were rows and rows of books on shelves high enough to disappear into the darkness of the high ceiling, rows seeming to go on forever without lights to provide an image of the parameter. Toni moved forward, bare feet not making a sound on the marble floor as her hand slipped from Loki's. He felt slightly cold at the loss, but the sheer amazement on her face more than made up for it; a childlike joy lit her eyes as she turned to look at him.

"You grew up here?" She asked breathlessly before letting out an excited squeal and turning back, running down rows and spinning around corners as she laughed, the sound echoing in every corner and reminding Loki of tinkling bells as he chased after her, taking pleasure in her delight.

They had somehow made it back to the door and the sight of Odin standing there, disapproval coloring his expression, made the pair come to a halt, smiles vanishing.

"Loki, why are you not in your chambers?"

Toni watched as Loki's face closed off, eyes masking his emotions.

"I apologize for the disturbance, Allfather; I asked Loki to show me the library so we could get started on our research and I lost myself for a moment. It won't happen again, I assure you."

Odin eyed her warily before nodding. "Make sure it doesn't." His commanding tone had Toni glaring at his back as he left.

"Condescendant trou du cul," Toni muttered when he was out of earshot, and Loki looked at her in shock. "What? He is."

Toni turned back to the shelves, a light blue blush spreading across her cheeks, and Loki laughed, almost hysterically, as he processed the fact that Toni had just called Odin Allfather, King of Asgard, a condescending asshole. In French.

Toni watched in amusement as Loki doubled over, clutching his stomach as he continued to laugh, but she frowned when she saw blood dripping from his wounds again. She walked over to him, pressing her fingers against his lips, and they started to glow blue, the light touching each stitch before dispersing.

Loki stopped laughing abruptly when the pain around his mouth was gone and he swiftly straightened up, hand shooting to the stitches as he stared at her in disbelief. The look was mirrored on her face and she ran her fingers over the strings, the appendages falling between Loki's fingers.

"Holy shit," she breathed. "How in the seven hells...?" Her eyes locked with his before she knocked his hand away and grabbed the sides of his face, pulling it down towards hers. "Let me know if anything hurts," she muttered, cold breath fanning over his face, then she started lightly prodding at the holes around his lips, pressing harder when the touch didn't evoke a reaction. "You can feel that though, right?"

Loki nodded, hands wrapping around her wrists; Toni just maintained eye contact while Loki pulled her to one of the library corners, walking backwards without a single glance to watch where he was going. When he stopped, he let go of one of her wrists and reached over, feeling the book bindings until he found the one he was looking for, then he pulled her to the nearest table and set the book down, flipping to the cover page where there was a drawing of a cube, which Toni assumed to be the Tesseract.

She sat down lightly, left hand still in Loki's as she flipped through the pages with her right, skimming through the information as Loki watched her. Her eyes did give off a slight glow, Loki noticed. When she zoned out, eyes still on the book, unmoving as she thought, he slightly shook her hand. At her questioning look he pointed to his eyes then to her.

"Wha-?" Loki pointed at the torch closest to them. The unlit torch. Toni's eyes widened again. "I think I'm going to need a journal." Loki nodded and swept his thumb along the back of her hand before sliding away and into the dark, leaving Toni with the large tome, but he returned quickly, setting a small, leather-bound book on the table with a quill and inkwell. "A quill? Good thing my mother made me learn calligraphy. And here I always thought it was a useless skill."

Loki huffed out a laugh and watched as Toni scrawled a list; he ran his fingers over the back of her hand, taking in her elegant script and the way she nibbled on her lower lip in thought.

Hours of reading and note-taking later, Toni set the quill down and let out a breath, running her hands over her face and through her hair. Loki, noticing the sun beginning to rise, pointed at the window.

"No wonder I'm tired," Toni muttered, standing and raising her arms above her head. Loki took in her denim cutoff shorts, pale legs, and the sliver of skin that was revealed as she stretched, and he looked away, swallowing heavily. "Come on, I need sleep," she muttered, gathering everything before grabbing Loki's hand and walking back to Loki's rooms, Loki watching her every move.

Loki tensed up and nearly ripped his hand from Toni's when they passed Thor in the hallway, but she held on tight.

"Good morning, daughter of Tony," Thor boomed, voice echoing down the hall. If he noticed their joined hands, he didn't say anything, which made Loki think that he was just as oblivious as ever.

"Hello, Thor," Toni replied civilly, though Loki could hear the coldness in her tone.

"I hope you have slept well."

"Very well, thank you. And yourself?"

"I slept well also. Are you not headed to breakfast? I believe Midgardians say it is the most important meal of the day."

Toni lightly inclined her head. "They do. However, I will be taking it in Loki's chambers; I have research to do and I believe it would be rude to bring it to the table."

"Very well, daughter of Iron, I bid you a good day."

"And to you as well, Odinson." Toni pulled Loki the rest of the way to his rooms, her hand squeezing his almost painfully. Once the door was shut, she let go of his hand and walked to the table by the window, setting her things on top of it before leaning against it, fists on the table top and head bowed. "Give me strength," he heard her mutter, then she turned around and moved to stand in front of Loki.

For a minute she just stood there, staring at his armor-covered torso, then she poked his chest. "Do you ever take this crap off? It can't be all that comfortable."

Loki gave her a small, amused smile and waved his hand, armour giving way to silk sleeping pants. And nothing else.

Toni's eyes widened as she took in his lean torso. "Um... we should, uh, go to bed."

Loki held back a smirk at her blush and pulled Toni towards the bed, letting her fuss over him as he got comfortable; she squeaked when he pulled her to (almost on top of) his chest, but she laid her head down and draped her arm over his waist with a small, content sigh.

"Goodnight, Loki. Sweet dreams."