“You’ll back off if you know what’s good for you.” Stoki (couldn't pick just one, sorry!)
well ended up going kind of an unexpected direction with this one - set in the everything sucks au where Loki died in the RAFT. previous installments: original, tony pov, tony & thor, clint pov, bucky pov, steve pov of thor’s return, wanda pov, loki pov, tony & steve
They were back, and Loki was here, right next to him, asleep - maybe asleep, maybe unconscious, it was hard to tell. Steve didn’t know exactly what had happened and he didn’t really care. All that mattered was that Loki was alive. Steve had felt his heart beating, watched his chest rise and fall.
He wasn’t all right. Steve knew that already. If he hadn’t guessed, the fact that Loki’s brief period of consciousness had mostly involved screaming would’ve disillusioned him fast. But that wasn’t surprising, was it? You walked through death and of course you came out the other side changed, but that was fine, it was fine as long as Loki was here they could - he could make it right.
Steve touched his face. He felt slightly too warm, maybe a little feverish.
He’s here, Steve kept having to remind himself. He’s here, this is real, we did it. Some part of him was still reluctant to believe it. Like the moment he started he’d wake up and find out he’d been dreaming, like he had for months.
His eyes burned but he kept them open, refusing to look away.
The door opened and Steve didn’t look up. “Get out.”
“Hello to you too. How did you know who it was? What if I’d been a nurse?”
Steve turned his head, but barely. “What do you want?”
“Just...checking in.” Tony wouldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Seeing how you’re...doing. How he’s doing.”
“Surprised you’re bothering,” Steve said shortly. He saw Tony wince and almost felt bad. But not quite.
“Hey,” he said, something a little sharper in his voice. “I hauled ass into literal Hell with you guys to drag him out. I at least want to know that it worked.”
“He’s here, isn’t he?” Steve said. He wasn’t going to mention his worries, that Loki might be physically present but he was never going to recover, never going to be himself again, might be just a shell of the man Steve loved. The fear, secretly, that he’d made a terrible mistake bringing Loki back at all.
“Sure, but…” Tony trailed off. “Jesus. Is he, you know, okay?”
“I don’t know,” Steve said. He could hear how tight his voice sounded and couldn’t make himself moderate it. “I don’t have a better answer than that, Tony, so if you want reassurance that everything’s all better now, I can’t give it to you.”
“Don’t,” Steve said. “You helped us, sure, but I’m not going to forget that Loki wouldn’t’ve been there in the first place if it weren’t for you.”
Loki stirred, a little, and Steve saw Tony’s hand twitch toward the button on his watch. He stood up and took a step forward so he was blocking the doorway, planting his hand against it.
“I think you should leave.”
“You have to know that Loki...he’s going to be fucked up.”
Steve managed not to twitch. “Probably.”
Tony hesitated, and Steve knew what he was going to say before he said it. “He could be dangerous.” Steve felt his jaw tighten and tried to take a deep breath even as iron bands squeezed his lungs. “People - he could be confused, lash out at you-”
“It’s not just you I’m worried about,” Tony said. “Steve, you have to know we’ve gotta lock him down, just to be safe-”
On the back of his eyelids, a video. Loki bound to a chair, Loki struggling, Loki dying.
“Shut up, Tony,” Steve said. “I don’t have to know a damn thing, except that you’ll back off if you know what’s good for you.”
Tony blinked, looking genuinely taken aback.
“That’s why Ross killed him, wasn’t it?” Steve said harshly. “Just to be safe?”
The color drained out of Tony’s face. “I’m not suggesting-”
“I didn’t think you were,” Steve said flatly. “But I’ll be damned if I let anyone lock Loki away again. As soon as he’s stabilized, we’re leaving.” If he does. If he doesn’t just stay like he is now, caught somewhere in between life and death.
“Dammit, Steve,” Tony said, his frustration audible. “I’m trying, here. Isn’t there anything I can do-”
“Yeah,” Steve said. “And you did it. Now you can keep your distance.”
