Watch Your Step

Her running had gotten a bit faster and due to her disability, she ran off the pavement and onto the grass. Less than fifteen feet from the heavily circulated street, she tripped when her feet hit pavement again and she fell on in, hurting herself. In less that a second, Loki was at her side, turning her around and gathering her in his arms, trying to analyze the damage.

"Don't touch me!" she cried, trying to escape his grip when he sat down on a nearby bench, with her on his lap. With a loud sigh, he caught her tiny hands that were blindly trying to push him away and held them to his chest.

"Alana. Please. You had already hurt yourself enough. Let me take care of you." he used his thumbs to stroke her soft hands, feeling her shiver under his touch.

"But you....you already hurt me! How can I know that you won't do it again?" she let out a small whimper and tried to pull away.

Her words hurt. Badly. He almost winced in emotional pain and he tensed, angry at himself for allowing such 'weak' feelings to wash over him.

"I won't...hurt you. I never wanted to. Please let me help. Your knee is bleeding." he stated coldly, forcing all her attention back to him.

"What?! My knee is what?!" she shrieked, thrashing around, trying to pull away.

"Calm. Down." he growled in her ear, making her stop dead in her tracks. "It's just a scratch, but it's bleeding. It's not that deep. So calm down." she whined loudly before sprawling onto his lap.

"I sort of hate you." she muttered, nuzzling into his shoulder. "There. I'm letting you help me. Are you gonna do anything about it? It hurts, you know." she continued to whine, briefly biting her lip when she felt him tense.

He had indeed grown very tense once she said she hated him. It was the thing he feared the most, her rejecting him like everybody else did. He nodded, silently, although she couldn't see him and soon enough Hawkeye and Captain America appeared behind him, dressed in civilian.

"Miss, are you alright?" Steve asked, approaching the two. She nodded, trying to figure where he was.

"I'm alright. Who are you?" she flailed around a bit before whining again, struggling in Loki's arms.

"Loki, what have you done to her?" both their heads snapped up at his tone.

"I didn't..." Loki's voice was soft and it soon trailed off.

"He didn't do anything, really. I just tripped and fell over. He was trying to help me." she tried to help, looking into the general direction of where the men were standing. Loki rubbed her back as a thank you, looking hopefully at the two. They both eyed him in disbelief, then looked at each other and shrugged.

"So what's up?" Clint asked, sitting next to them. Alana crawled out of Loki's lap and sat on the other side of him.

" Will S.H.I.E.L.D track me down and lock me in a cell if I use my magic to heal her?" the Trickster murmured, looking at the ground in front of him. At that, Clint choked on the chewing gum he seemed to be using and Steve just smiled a bit.

"You? Want to heal her? You want to use your magic to do something good?!" Clint continued to mock. Loki looked at him in disbelief, followed closely by Steve and a frowny Alana.

"Can I go home now? My ankle hurts too... Mrs. Greenword will take care of it..." she spoke and stood, turning to Loki. "Walking stick, please?"

"Shift your weight to your left foot." Loki said with a sigh, waiting for her reaction. She did and leaned down in pain, hissing loudly.

"When the hell did that happen?!" she whimpered, gripping his extended hand tightly, moving back to sit on the bench.

"You twisted your ankle. I inflicted a small amount of painkiller. I guess the effects wore off. This is why I need to know if I can use my magic to heal her." Loki tried to reason, moving a hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her.

"Ughhhh. I don't trust you, but I'll see what I can do." Clint left and after a few arguments on the phone, returned with a frown on his face.

"You can use it for the next 15 minutes. I asked Nat to make sure nobody goes crazy about it." he sighed and sat back on the bench.

Loki nodded....happily? and crouched in front of the girl, carefully slipping her boot off. Her ankle was red but other than that, there was nothing to give away the forming bruise. He gripped her foot into his large hands and slowly rubbed his thumbs over the skin.

"It might feel a bit cold." he confessed, a green glow emitting from his finger. He gently moved her foot around, making sure to add bits of cold pressure all over the bruised skin. The redhead whimpered from the cold but otherwise stood still, patiently waiting for him to finish. She would definitely question later what exactly was going on.

"Two minutes left." Clint broke the silence, getting up as Steve followed suit. Loki grunted in disapproval.

"What's wrong?" she questioned, sensing his emotions, her other leg slowly swaying around.

"I won't finish. My powers are extremely limited. " he sighed loudly and got up. "We will have to bandage it, maybe. Stand, please. Try to see if you can walk."

She did as told and took a few steps. When she turned to him, a huge grin adorned her features and it was soon joined by a genuine smile of Loki's. With tentative steps she walked to him, almost jumping into his arms as she captured him in a hug. He awkwardly hugged back, still startled by the fact that she somehow managed to jump into his arms although she was unable to run in a straight line a bit earlier.

With slow movements, she leaned up and when she realized that she is too short, pulled him down by his collar, she places a soft kiss to his cheek. He gasped and he could feel his cheeks burn not a second later. "Thank you." he faintly heard her whisper and he faintly nodded. "No problem."

She smiled brightly when she turned around and entwined her fingers behind her back. "Can I have my walking stick back now?" she smiled cheekily in his general direction, extending one hand. She titled her head to the side for emphasis.

With a sigh and a flick of his wrist, the stick feel between her fingers and she thanked him once again before turning and heading home. Five steps later, she turned, for the billionth time.

"You know....I don't really hate you." before continuing her walk home.