Ooh, I’ve never written Loki before. Let’s hang him upside down.
trigger warnings: stress positions, muzzles, sort of a dark Thor??…this one isn’t so bad. It’s almost cute.
(gif credit: becausehiddles)
Eventually, Loki leaves them with no choice; they can’t keep him in a cell, they can’t prevent his escape. They have to hang him by the ankles.
At first, it’s unpleasant. His legs are bound from ankle to knee, which is certainly uncomfortable if not outright maddening. But worse, they bind his wrists together and then stretch his arms above his head so that they’re tied to the floor.
“Ankles to the ceiling, wrists to the floor,” Loki muses. He spins in a slow circle, like thread on a spool. “I’m flattered you find me so dangerous.”
“Not dangerous so much as…” Thor searches for the word. “Slippery?”
Loki’s nose wrinkles. His head is starting to ache from the rush of blood straight to his temples. He’s surprised by how uncomfortable the pressure is. How urgent it already feels.
“Well, that’s less flattering.”
“I’ll come check on you in an hour,” Thor says, hardly caring. “If you feel like behaving yourself, maybe I’ll let you down.”
Time slows to a thick syrup that pulses with Loki’s heartbeat. That heartbeat has traveled from Loki’s chest, to this throat, directly to his temples. His head feels hot and swollen. His ankles feel bruised, tender beneath the rope. And his shoulders…his wrists…They ache in a way that Loki can’t escape. His hands feel as if they might burst with blood. Loki is long practiced in escaping to the quiet recesses of his mind, but with the constant ache in his joints, he cannot. There’s no escape, just his body.It seems like ages since Thor left, but when his brother finally does return, Loki is almost relieved to see him.
He shows his gratitude by transforming himself into that Steve “Captain America” Rogers fellow. Very amusing. Loki’s favorite of the group to imitate, surely.
“You’ll never take me alive!” He mimics the captain’s righteousness with zeal. Perhaps some of the agony of hanging upside-down has been mostly boredom. His spirits are already brightening. “I could do this all day!”Thor sighs and seals that damn muzzle over Loki’s mouth. “Hush. Natasha tells me I can’t leave you with your arms like this.” He loosens the ropes around Loki’s wrists, palpating his bluing and swollen hands. “Do you want me to–” Thor sighs at the sight of his brother. “Cut that out. I can’t talk to you like that.”
Loki lets the facade of Captain America drop. Now Thor can stare into his real miserable face, flushed and uncomfortable. Even his eyes must be bloodshot.
Thor sighs. He unfastens the muzzle. “I’ll tie your wrists to your chest. It doesn’t sound more comfortable, but it is.”
Loki can’t resist. He takes on a new appearance. Not as good as his Captain America because he’s only seen this man in video footage.
“Wakanda forever!” he proclaims as he crosses his arms over his chest.
Thor laughs and hits him upside the head. “Stop that. You’re being punished.”
Though the bondage is less torturous now that his arms aren’t extended above his head, it still is really, very painful.
Loki tries to curl his body up, just to get some of the blood away from his head, but he’s not built for that kind of exercise.First, his abdomen quivers. He tenses, trying to hold strong, but then it gives out entirely. His whole torso drops down below his body with a painful snap. The blood pummels into his temples.Loki gasps, shocked by the pain. By the failure of his own body.
Perhaps he was better off doing nothing. Perhaps he should just let himself pass out.
Black is seeping into the edges of Loki’s vision when Thor finally returns. Loki doesn’t even have the stamina to conjure someone up. He’s scarcely breathing. Even his lungs feel swollen.
“Shit,” Thor says. “It hasn’t even been an hour yet, brother.”“Alright,” Loki says. He manages a flicker of Thor, just over his face. He’s sure to add blood-bulging eyes and straining neck tendons. “You go next, then.”
