Obedience

When they entered Loki's room, Toni let go of Loki's hand, walking over to the spare bed and setting the basket down before digging through her pile of stuff; when she found her sketchbook, she held it up triumphantly, causing Loki to look at her in amusement.

Snatching the basket, Toni grabbed Loki's hand again and pulled him over to the table, pulling out a chair for him with a small bow, a smirk coloring her features. Loki chuckled and gave a mocking curtsy before settling into the chair, making Toni laugh; Loki was slightly astonished to realize that he would never grow tired of the sound of her laughter.

Placing the sketchbook in front of him, Toni sat in the chair opposite Loki. "This is my most recent sketchbook; if I had known it was almost full, I would've brought another, but nothing for it now."

Toni opened the journal to the sketches she'd drawn that morning and Loki pointed at them and then at the sketchbook before opening his hands in a questioning gesture. 'Why didn't you draw those in your sketchbook?'

"The journal is going to be about my experiences and thoughts after being altered by the Tesseract as well as my research; you're part of my experience and you're in my thoughts." Toni blushed after revealing that she thought about him, knowing that he understood what was implied.

Loki lightly flushed, a soft look in his eyes as he grasped Toni's hand, lightly pressing her knuckles to his mouth. She looked up at him through her lashes, suddenly shy, looking down at her journal when Loki stroked her hand with his thumb.

Peering up at him, Toni watched Loki's eyebrows scrunch together as he eyed the first sketch, a picture of her father working that she'd drawn a few weeks back, Stark senior unaware of his observer. Holding out a pen, Toni cleared her throat to get Loki's attention; when he looked at her, she said, "Feel free to make notes, anything you like, dislike, think could be improved, etcetera. And don't go easy on me, I crave constructive criticism nearly as much as knowledge as it is necessary for improvement."

Loki lightly smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling; rubbing her knuckles once more with his thumb, he let go of her hand and took the pen from her extended hand. Toni grinned, pleased that he didn't object; she somehow knew that he would be honest, respecting her enough not to sugarcoat any of his comments. She snagged her pencil from the basket beside her and hooked her foot around Loki's outstretched ankle as she began writing her thoughts and sketching scenes she wanted to remember.

Loki glanced up at her in surprise when he felt her leg lock around his, but she didn't notice; he observed her for a moment, in awe of the woman in front of him. She was intelligent, kind, compassionate, beautiful, both inside and out; Loki didn't know what he did to deserve her care, but he accepted it because she had to have a good reason, she wasn't the type to let her emotions completely rule such a serious decision. She had to see something in him that was worthy of her, something that allowed her to forgive him for the horrible things he'd done, not only to her but to those she cared about as well. She'd watched him throw her father out of a window, yet here she sat, comfortable in his presence, trusting him to be to be good, the best he could be.

Tears filled Loki's eyes as something dawned on him; the realization hit him hard, warmth flooding his body, the heat stemming from his heart. I love her.