Work Text:
It was finally over.
The war, Kang, the chaos, the fear, all of it was in the past. Finally, Loki and Sylvie were free to live how they wanted. This, ended up being a bit of time just the two of them. They both simply wanted a break before figuring out the rest of their lives.
This particular evening, they were sitting on their couch. Neither spoke, they were simply enjoying each others presence.
Loki broke the silence:
"I love you."
Sylvie simply smiled. Of course, she loved him back, but she hadn't said it out loud yet. Too much pressure, and she still wasn't used to being so attached to anybody. Loki understood this, and never pressured her.
At least, he never had before...
"You aren't going to say it back?"
He sounded heartbroken. Sylvie looked up, this wasn't like him. Confused, she tried to explain, but he cut her off.
"You know I..."
"You what, you don't care about me?" That sadness had left his voice, being replaced with an anger that nearly made her jump.
"What?"
Her voice was soft and shaky. Was he... was he about to leave her?
"Whatever, it's not like I actually cared for you anyways."
Her stomach dropped, and she felt the largest amount of emotional pain she had ever experienced, despite her being relatively used to pain.
"I don't... I don't understand... what are you-"
He cut her off again.
"You didn't actually think I actually loved you, did you? What a pathetic little girl"
At this point, she was crying. How could he do this?
"It was all for revenge. You betrayed me, and now you get what you deserve. "
Suddenly, he was gone. She quickly got up, desperately trying to find him, trying to get him back, but unfortunately she had no luck.
"No... oh please god no... NO... NO... NO! "
She was alone, all alone, once again.
.
.
.
Sylvie startled awake, the bedroom she shared with her lover coming back into focus. It had all been just a dream. Intense relief flushed over her, he hadn't actually left.
"Sylvie?"
Loki was now sitting up. He looked at her, concern in his eyes.
"You were screaming, are you alright my love?"
Tears formed in her eyes, though she was determined to not let them fall.
“I'm fi-"
Nope. Her voice cracked, and the tears began to fall down her face. Helpless to stop them, she silently looked up at him.
Loki quickly wrapped his arms around her, lifting her into his lap. Still crying, she buried her face in his chest.He softly rubbed her back, trying so hard to comfort her.
"Shh, baby, it's okay. I'm right here. You’re okay, you’re safe honey I promise."
After some more words of comfort, she eventually calmed down and told him of her nightmare. They were both silent for a moment, before she spoke again.
“I know it was just a stupid dream but I...Iam...scared of losing you.”
He looked her in the eyes, his face forming a serious yet caring expression.
"Sylvie, I'm never going to leave. I care about you too much."
She paused for a moment. She did trust him, as much as she could reallytrust anyone, but that didn't make her less scared. She took a deep breath.
"Its not just that. I'm scared that one day I'll wake up and... you won't be beside me."
Her voice got quiet at that last part, finally saying what she had worried about for weeks.
Loki looked at her, studying her face for a moment. He picked his words carefully, not wanting to upset the most important person in his life.
“I promise, I will do absolutely everything in my power to stay with you, and as we both know, Loki’s are pretty damn powerful.”
Sylvie laughed at that last part, finally feeling secure. She figured he loved her too much to ever loose her again, after all, he had been the one who searched for her after she killed Kang. Even at her worst, he still loved her...
Love...
“I love you.”
For a brief moment, Loki seemed surprised.Then his face melted into a smile.
“I love you too, more than anything.”
Sylvie smiled and laid back down. It was late after all, and knowing Loki was there made her feel... peaceful. She drifted off to sleep rather easily after that.
.
Loki, on the other hand, did not. He could hear Sylvie’s breathing even out, and was glad she was asleep, but hecouldn’t quite get there himself. The nights conversation hadn’t left his brain, even an hour later. She had expressed one of his worst fears:
Loosing her again.
Despite what he had told her, he wasn’t very sure of himself. The words he’d said to Sylvie were of course meant to comfort her in a time of need, but were also trying to convince himself. After all, he had already lost her once, it wasn’t such a stretch to think it could happen once more to a worse degree.
These were the types of thoughts that echoed in his brain, making drifting off to sleep impossible. The amount of those thoughts only increased, and got more intense to a point where he was genuinely scared.
Eventually, trying to distract himself, he sat up and looked at Sylvie.
She looked so peaceful, yet so vulnerable. Of course, he would never use that vulnerability, but he didn’t even want to think of what could have happened when she slept while on the run, who could have taken advantage of her, especially since she was so young at the start...
Now he was thinking of both that, and loosing her. He almost started to cry, but, trying to muffle those thoughts, he laid back down and reached for Sylvie.
Yet again, he wrapped her in his arms. He immediately felt relieved, being able to physically feel her erased almost all of the scary thoughts surrounding her.
Sylvie stirred, then quietly spoke, sounding confused.
“Loki? What...”
She drifted off, still not fully awake.
“Shh, darling go back to sleep”
She made a little sound that he figured was in agreement. He began to stroke her hair; something he knew made her fall asleep quickly. Soon enough, her breathing evened out again, and she was asleep.
He could feel her breathing, and it was incredibly soothing. Before long, her breathing had lulled him to sleep.