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When Thor and Jane approached Loki, he feared for the worst. Perhaps vengeance for a prank or extra work in the lab because he slacked off. But out of all of the things, he imagined them saying, it was not this – never this.
“What?” The news felt like a kick to the gut.
“The lab was attacked, and Darcy was injured,” Jane repeated.
Loki tried not to react. Darcy – annoying, sweet, challenging Darcy was hurt.
“It is not what you think, brother. Whatever the bomb did harmed her,” Thor trailed off in search of the medical term.
“Eardrum,” Jane finished. “Tony and Bruce are trying to make the same hearing aids that they made for Clint.”
“And what does this have to do with me?” Loki inquired. His specialties were magic, not medical science.
The couple glanced at each other briefly; Jane nodded to whatever Thor expressed.
“We were wondering if you could visit her,” Thor said, “cheer her up.”
Loki’s jaw dropped. “You want me to do what?”
“Please, Loki,” Jane begged, “I’ve never seen her so depressed. She hasn’t made any attempt to return to work even though the doctor cleared her. Jarvis has taken to keeping watch when we’re not there in case… in case…”
Thor rubbed his beloved’s back. Loki was about to bolt for Darcy’s apartment. There was no denying they’d grown close, perhaps close enough to be friends or for them to court. They’d had so many super secret movie nights where it was just the two of them, where she taught him about Earth and how to appreciate it.
He knew how it felt to be crushed under one’s own emotions, and his heart ached to think that Darcy was struggling under the same weight.
Loki glanced at Darcy’s desk, his mind suddenly made.
***
The quiet was maddening.
Darcy tried to cheer herself up by watching her favorite tv show, but part way through reading the subtitles she started crying. Nothing felt normal anymore.
She remembered the heart clenching fear of waking up in the hospital, seeing everyone talking but not hearing them. Out of everyone, Clint managed to assure her that it would be all right. In the following days, everyone learned basic sign language. Tony promised to make a set of hearing aids that would make her forget that her eardrums were shot, but it’d been a month, and there was no progress.
The lights blinked three times – Jarvis’s new visual doorbell service to alert her when someone was at her door.
“Come in!” she shouted, hoping and praying that she sounded normal.
She felt the vibration of the door opening and closing. Briefly, she steadied her nerves and put on the persona she’d adopted as of late: casual, smiling, but breaking on the inside. When she saw who came to see her, she frowned.
“Get out,” she told Loki. Darcy didn’t want him to see her like this. Around everyone else, she could fake some smiles and act normal, but he could see all. Loki could see through her crap and know the truth.
The god stood at her kitchen island with a gift basket. At her command, he looked like the putout boyfriend who said something wrong and bought the biggest bouquet of flowers the store had. She countered with a raised brow.
Loki held up his hands in peace and motioned to the gift. After a moment, he picked it up and carried it to the coffee table. Doing a comical, “ta da” motion when he set it down.
The basket was full of different chocolates, gift cards, and candles. In the center of the horde was a teddy bear.
Loki sat down across from her and watched as she reached for the basket. She paused, though.
“Nothing’s going to jump out at me or be super spicy?” she asked.
He shook his head and crossed his heart. Meanwhile, his magic made a halo over his head.
“Add horns to hold the halo up and it’ll be accurate,” Darcy commented while tearing open a jumbo size chocolate bar.
The trickster grinned at her. While she munched, he wove a spell. It made the words he spoke write out in the air in front of her. “How have you been?”
She shrugged, trying to look casual. “Okay,” she answered.
“Honestly?” he prompted.
“I’m okay,” she insisted.
Loki frown reached his eyes; he muttered something, but the spell didn’t write it out. He got up and scooted her over on the couch so he could sit down. Instead of leaving it like that, he pulled her onto his lap, pressing her cheek against his shoulder. Upon feeling his hand rubbing her back, the dam of tears burst.
The jerk was a blanket of comforting warmth, like a safety blanket, Darcy decided. His shirt was softer than any tissue, and he knew how to coax her emotions free. She could imagine his voice whispering sweet nothings in her ear, but she knew that he was silent. His mouth was pressed against her hair, and she felt that it was still except for a kiss here and there.
Darcy cried until she felt she couldn’t cry anymore, but she stayed still in Loki’s arms.
“Jerk,” she said half-heartedly while she dried her cheeks.
He chuckled, the vibration shaking her frame. “Do you feel better now?” he asked.
“Kinda,” she confessed.
He kissed her hair. “It doesn’t feel like it now, but someday you’ll be all right.”
She nodded and then Loki adjusted her. He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket.
“Let’s order some comfort food,” he paused and teasingly tickled her, “You’ve become skinny in my absence.”
She smacked his chest but earned a laugh. He ordered every dish the takeout place had, and when it arrived, he paid and brought it over to the couch.
Part way through the meal, Darcy jolted. “This is a date.”
The trickster blushed, stammering and eventually huffing, “My plot has been foiled.”
“Loki,” she said and got his attention, “thank you.”
“I am my fair lady’s knight in shining armor whenever she needs,” he said, and she could hear his teasing tone.
She cuddled up to him, silently hoping Tony would get done with those hearing aids. She missed hearing Loki’s voice.