Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Playing with the baby dragons, plus Alan, the teenage dragon would not leave my side, I was smiling and laughing. Susie, a green dragon, was snuggling with me on my shoulder, while Alan had his head in my lap. Alan was obsidian with a red under belly, and I think he’s imprinted on me. Not in a creepy twilight way, it’s not romantic, dragons just imprint on individuals, regardless of species, and they will protect that individual for the rest of their life. Suddenly Alan was up, growling and standing protectively in front of me. Susie was posturing like a cat on my shoulder, hissing a little bit.
Maneuvering my head so I could see around Alan’s 8 foot tall 1 ½ tons of dragon, I gasped. Running over to the two individuals who had just shown up in my garden, Susie still on my shoulder and Alan walking after me, I freaked.
“Where the hell have you two been?!” I yelled. “I mean, seriously, it’s been 8 months, Asgard has been up Earth’s ass trying to find you two, and now you just pop into my garden, which is hidden from everyone mind you, looking exactly as you did the day you left New York!” I took a deep breath, and Thor and Loki just stared at me, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Loki what did you do?” Thor demanded, turning to the very attractive trickster god. Did I think that? Oops…
“Oh hush Thor honey, Loki’s been pardoned,” I rolled my eyes as Thor’s head snapped to look at me with a harsh glare. I blushed, I had just referred to the god of thunder as ‘honey’, it’s official, I have a death wish. Looking to Loki, my eyes widened, embarrassment forgotten. “And get that damn muzzle off him!” I waved my hands, and the muzzle dropped to the ground at Loki’s feet. Seeing the confused looks on their faces, I put two and two together. “Sit down,” I popped us over to a table nearby, Thor and Loki in the seats in front of me. Loki’s cuffs were gone as was the tesseract, I sent it to the heart of the garden.
“Okay,” I sighed, dragging a hand down my face. Thor opened his mouth to speak, but I held a finger up, using a spell to make him unable to talk until I was ready. Thor opened and closed his mouth a couple times, looking extremely confused. I heard a small chuckle and glanced at Loki, seeing a smirk on his face. I sent a small smile back, before snapping back into business mode. Even if he’s pardoned, even if he’s 6’3’’ of sexy glory, do not think of him like that.
“So, from what I’m thinking, the tesseract brought you two 8 months into the future, probably to save Loki from prison time until they figured out that he’d been hypnotized. Yes, hypnotized. Some being called Thanos used the tesseract to take control of his mind,” I sighed. “I killed him about 2 weeks ago, with the help of some other sorcerers, and... by gods I need some tea…” I grumbled, waving my hand so some raspberry tea with 5 sugars and some lemon was in my hand. Thor’s eyes widened even more. Loki was keeping his face blank. Realizing there wasn’t much else to say about their situation, I shrugged. “So, um, yeah…” I released the spell on Thor, who immediately asked a bunch of questions.
“Who are you? Where are we? Since when does Earth have sorcerers, from what I can tell you’re human…” I opened my mouth to answer but more questions flowed from Thor’s brain to his mouth with no filter, I rolled my eyes and just let his word vomit continue. “Is that a dragon? Why are there dragons everywhere?” I rose an eyebrow.
“So, you done?” I asked, and Thor nodded, looking slightly offended. I turn to Loki. “Before I answer the walking steak’s questions,” Thor made an offended sound. “Do you have any questions?” Loki looked at me with wide eyes, seemingly shocked that I would even address him. Good fucking job Odin, great parenting done with this one, I mean who doesn’t love never being listened to as a kid…
“Has the… damage-” he cringed regretfully. “From my attack been repaired?” I nodded sympathetically.
“Some other magic users and I did a mass spell on the people of Earth to make them forget your involvement in the attack, minus the Avengers and some other high ranking officials, as for the damage to New York, repairs are about 80% done,” I replied calmly. “Now, as for your question…” I turned to Thor.. “My name is Mina Frind, I’m a 23 year old human, and Earth has always had sorcerers. We’ve remained and still remain hidden from the other worlds and civilians, protecting the world from more magical threats. Right now we are in the nursery garden, in a dragon hatchery.” I gently took Susie from my shoulder, and she unsteadily flew over to Loki, snuggling around his neck. I giggled. “That’s Susie, this guy here-” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder to point at Alan who was sitting, but still around 7 feet tall. “Is Alan, I’m his imprinted, meaning he’ll protect me at all costs, there are 10 gardens and 5 buildings in this larger garden, which is hidden from the world. I am the caretaker here, though that’s mainly because the garden won’t let me leave…” I grumbled the last bit.
“What are you talking about? Won’t let you?” Loki interjected.
“The garden is sentient, only allowing in those who it deems worthy and not letting out those who it wishes to stay,” I explained, quickly continuing before they could cut in with more questions. “Dragons have free reign, coming and going as they please, but only one human I’ve met so far can come and go as he pleases, and that’s mainly because the garden doesn’t want to anger me,” I rolled my eyes. Thor was just gaping, while Loki was nodding, seemingly thinking to himself.
“We need to get to Asgard!” Thor realized. Shooting up. I nodded, standing as well, Alan following our lead. Loki took his time, however, seeming hesitant.
“That you do, so let’s head to the boundary, and see if you can leave,” I was extremely surprised at how calm I was being, but that was broken when the song ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?” popped into my head, causing me to burst into giggles as I led them to the boundary.

Chapter Text

As I lead the demigods to the outskirts of the garden, I noticed Susie was sound asleep hung over Loki’s shoulders like a scarf. Smiling to myself, I wondered what the likelihood was that he was her imprinted. I scowled a little at the thought. It was very stressful for dragons to be away from their imprinted for extended periods of time, and if Loki was able to leave…
I’ll have to talk to him about visiting.
Anyway, we got to the boundary, it looked a lot like a bubble, a shiny transparent layer with colors where the sun hit it in the right spot. I gestured with my arms towards it.
“Here’s the boundary, guys, just try to step right through.” I said, and Thor nodded, grabbing Loki’s hand and dragging him towards the boundary. Thor passed right through it, but Loki’s hand couldn’t get past the bubble. Thor turned back when he noticed the absence of Loki’s hand, and looked extremely troubled.
“Heimdall!” He called, hoping for the bifrost to take them to Asgard.
“Uh… yeah, about that…” I trailed off. “So the garden exists in another dimension, and while Heimdall can technically ‘see’ the garden, the bifrost cannot reach it,” I told them, and Thor looked exasperated. Turning to Loki, he pointed at him.
“Don’t do anything too stupid,” he demanded, and Loki’s eyes narrowed a little bit.
I think he means reckless, Loki is obviously the more intelligent of the two…
Thor’s head snapped over to look at me, murder in his eyes, and I shrunk back. Huh. Must’ve said that outloud. Loki covered his mouth with his hand, holding back laughter, and I hid behind Alan. Susie blinked dopily at Loki, his motion causing her to wake up. Snuggling once again into his neck, she quickly fell back asleep. Loki smiled warmly at her for a moment, before seemingly remembering that there were other people present, making his face emotionless again.
“Um… yeah… let’s go!” I grabbed Loki’s hand, running into the nearest enclosure, which happened to be the teen dragon’s rec space. I heard Thor shouting, and realized that he couldn’t get back in… odd…
Alan flew over to his sister, a gold dragon named Talula, and she turned to look at us. ‘Humph’ing, she turned back to Alan and they snuggled. Dragons were actually very affectionate creatures. I smiled at the sight of the siblings, before hearing Loki clear his throat. I turned to look at him, suddenly incredibly nervous.
“Yes?” I asked, hoping my voice didn’t tremble too much.
“Well, love, I was just going to say it looks like I have to stay here…” he stated, and I blushed at the pet name. “Is there a place for me to sleep and such?” he asked, and I nodded, before realizing his hand was still in my grasp.
“Oh, yes! Um, sorry! I’ll take you to the hut!” I stuttered, letting go of his hand and going to my hut. The rest of the buildings were for the dragons, and my hut had 3 bedrooms, so I figured he’d have to have one of the rooms in my hut.
Opening the door to the hut, I groaned.
“Xander!” I yelled. “Get out of the kitchen!” Loki looked around, seemingly trying to find another person, but jumped when my bernese mountain dog barreled into his legs. Xander rubbed against Loki as if he were a cat, and Loki seemed to not know what to do with himself.
“Xander, show Loki his bedroom?” I asked, and Xander turned to the hallway, gesturing with his head as if to say ‘follow me!’. Loki looked incredibly confused, but followed the dog to one of the spare bedrooms. Taking out a teacup, and waving my hands to fill it with more raspberry tea, I leaned my hip against the island in the kitchen. Looking around, I called out for my cats.
“Friday! Spook! Nona!” I called. “Where are you?” Hearing the light pit-pat of paws on the floor, I turned my head to see Friday, my fat girl, Spook, my black scaredy cat, and Nona, the youngest of the bunch. I did a double take when I saw a kitten hanging by the scruff in Friday’s mouth.
“Ahhh!” I let out a happy shriek, hearing a curse from somewhere faroff. Picking up the kitten, I cradled him in my arms. He was also a black cat, like Spook, and I smiled. Before I heard a crash, and turned to see Loki in the hallway, a dagger in his hand, and looking frantically around for a threat.
“Oh! Sorry bout that…” I smiled sheepishly, and he glared, putting his dagger away. “My cat just became a mama!” I exclaimed, bending down to return the kitten to his mom. Friday started to lick him, cleaning him off and fussing over him. Loki looked awkwardly from me to the cats.
“Would you like to name him?” I blurted, hoping to diffuse the situation. Loki smiled, and ohmygod that smile’s gonna make my heart explode.
“I’d be honored,” he said, bending over to peer at the little furball. My heart melted a little bit more. He turned his disarming smile to me, and nodded. “Hatter,” he said, and I squealed.
“YES! OHMYGOSH I LOVE IT!” I threw my arms around him quickly before Xander decided he wanted in on it. Xander bounded over, glomping us, on top of Loki, who had fallen on top of me. I froze, staring at his emerald green eyes, before we heard a soft mew.
Loki quickly, yet somehow gracefully, got off me, and picked up Hatter, cradling him in his arms.
I, still on the floor, awed at the sight. Loki glanced at me, seeming to ponder something, before going back to fawning over Hatter. I clumsily stood up, glaring at Xander.
“Thanks, bud,” I deadpanned, and Xander barked once, sitting with his tail wagging. I rolled my eyes before going back outside after seeing the time. I heard Loki trailing after me. Moving quickly, I went to the caves on the outskirts of the garden, conjuring up some cows. I found it odd the first time I learned how to do that, that you can just casually create life. These cows had the basic instincts, but other than that, nothing. Same with all other life created by use of the mystic arts.
“DINNER!” I shouted, and heard many roars coming from the caves. The alpha female came out first, flying over us and picking up a cow. She was a huge white dragon, a very powerful telepath. I heard in my mind a quick thank you, before she started to eat. I smiled. “You’re welcome Harry!”.
“Who names these dragons?” Loki asked as more of the adults swooped by, taking cows as they went.
“Well, before I came none of them had names, which I thought was ridiculous,” I explained. “The white dragons explained that it sometimes got a little confusing, so I decided to give every dragon a name,”
“What do you mean ‘explained’ for you? They can speak?” he asked, surprised.
“Actually, only the white dragons can communicate conventionally, having the power of telepathy, so they just project words into your head. The purple dragons are empaths, so they can sort of communicate, projecting emotions to you. The others can’t really communicate with humans, but it’s all good, we manage,” I told him, and he nodded, eyes slightly wider than normal. I smiled.
“Come on, we need to feed the teens now,” I walked back towards the center, over to the teen area.

Chapter Text

Talula and Alan were play fighting when we got there, Alan sending bouts of lightning and fire towards his sister, while Talula was doing her best to dodge, occasionally going on the offensive with her huge talons. Loki looked between the dragons, seeming concerned, but I smiled, walking towards them. Once they say me they stopped their fight, bounding over. Alan flew in a circle around me, before setting down on the ground again, resting his head on top of mine.
“Hey bud! Ready for dinner?” I asked, and he excitedly backed up, turning to his sister. Talula was staring off into space, probably having a vision.
“Is she alright?” Loki asked, and I nodded.
“Gold dragons get visions of the future, uncontrollable premonitions,” I explained. “This is her second, that I know of,” looking back at Talula, she seemed to have come back to the land of the living. A huffing sound came from her throat, a dragon equivalent to laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, hands on my hips, and she looked between me and Loki.
“Well?” Loki asked me, and I shrugged, unsure of what she was trying to tell me.
“Hell if I know,” I laughed, conjuring some more cows. The teens swarmed to them, eating their fill. Talula threw me one last meaningful glance before joining them.
Looking around, I saw the wallflower of the teens, Malia, hanging back. She was a white dragon, with the power of telepathy, and had become very shy recently. Walking over to her, I crouched in front of her. She had been moved to the teen’s space a little over a month ago, so as of now she was the youngest in the space, still growing, at a height of around 4 ½ feet.
“What’s up Malia? Aren’t you hungry?” I asked her, and she bowed her head.
No. I heard.
“Well why not?” I tried again, hearing a ‘what?’ from Loki.
Who’s he? She asked, ignoring my question.
“Malia, this is Loki,” I gestured for him to come forward. He cautiously stepped towards us. “Susie’s imprint and my… guest,” I told her, and he smiled. Malia turned her head towards him, and he jumped.
“Um… hello,” he said, shifting on his feet, then turned to me. “Imprint?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Later hun,” I said, and he turned to me with a shocked face. “Malia sweetie,” I said gently, vaguely hearing Loki muttering ‘hun?’ in an incredulous tone. I blushed, but otherwise ignored him. “What’s wrong my love?” I asked her, putting my hand on her cheek.
They don’t like me. She said, and I frowned. Loki crouched next to me, looking at her tenderly.
“Why would you think that?” he asked, and the tenderness in his eyes made my heart flutter.
They ignore me. Her head lowered even more. They don’t play with me.
“Is it intentional?” I asked.
“Have you tried?” Loki asked. She froze, shaking her head.
“Well sweetie, relationships aren’t forged without contact, you have to approach them, they’ll love you,” I told her, standing and turning towards the other dragons. “Come on,” I gestured with my head for her to follow me, and she reluctantly did. “Alan!” I called, and he turned to look at me, bounding over. He nuzzled my cheek, then turned to Loki, nodding at him. Loki nodded back, and I stepped to the side, showing Malia to Alan. His head tilted as he stepped forward, curious. Malia took a step back, and Alan paused, sitting, deciding to let Malia come to him. She slowly inched towards him, and Alan stayed perfectly still as not to frighten her. When she was close enough, they touched noses, Alan having to bend down to greet her, and then they bounded off to get Malia something to eat. I smiled, turning to Loki.
“Let’s feed the young ones!” I said, clapping my hands, and he offered me a small smile.
As we were on our way to the enclosure holding the non-infantile kids, Loki decided it was time to ask questions.
“Imprint?” he tried again, and I glanced at him.
“Yep, Susie’s imprinted on you,” I said, unsure of how he would react to the whole concept of imprinting.
“Which means…?” he prompted, and I sighed.
“I’ll tell you, but before I do I’m going to promise you that this is a good thing and not at all creepy,” I rushed out.
“That’s… reassuring,” he rose an eyebrow, face skeptical.
“Shit, that didn’t sound good,” I cringed. “Well imprinting is when a dragon chooses a person who they will protect for the rest of their lives, dying for them and such, and they will provide companionship. The imprint is also marked as a friend of the dragons, others can sense it so you won’t ever be hurt by a dragon unless they are an exile. There are very few of those, by the way,” Loki came to a stop, and I turned to him, seeing a blank look on his face. He looked to his left shoulder, where Susie’s face was resting, and smiled.
“Hello, little one,” he said, and I decided that that was it, he was trying to melt me. Susie’s eyes lazily opened, peering up at him. “My name is Loki,” his smile broadened, and Susie nuzzled his cheek, and a flower grew in front of me. I plucked it and handed it to him.
“Green dragons can control nature,” I said, smiling shyly. “She grew this for you,”. He directed his dazzling smile to me, and I carefully put the flower in his hair. He lifted his hand up to pat her head and she purred. Suddenly the flower expanded, growing into a flower crown. He wore it proudly, I had to give him credit. “You look dashing,” I smiled, turning away to walk to the young ones’ enclosure again.
I was stopped by Loki grabbing my wrist. I stopped, and he turned me towards him, pulling me close. My eyes went wide as his arm wrapped my waist, his other hand going to the side of my head. Blushing, I stuttered.
“W-what?” I asked, and he smirked, pulling away.
“She grew a flower for you,” he said, and I felt shifting in my hair as what I assumed was a flower crown grew there. I giggled, stepping back as well.
“Now we match!” I smiled, still giggling a little bit. Loki’s smirk softened, as did his beautiful emerald eyes. We gazed into each other’s eyes for a bit, before I cleared my throat, stepping away.
“The kids will be hungry,” I murmured, walking towards their area.

Chapter Text

Getting ready to sleep at the end of the day, I sighed. My heart was about to burst out of my chest and the smile would not leave my face. Loki was a smooth bastard, and I honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Okay, my brain wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but my body sure did, judging by the smile and my pounding heart. This wasn’t good. Shaking my head, I snuggled further into Alan, having decided to sleep outside tonight. Xander was with me as well, his head on my lap. Susie’s flower crown was still on my head, so I took it off, placing it next to me on the ground.
Tomorrow is Thursday. I thought, and my smile widened. Thursday is when Stephen comes to visit, we have tea and a movie night. Stephen and I’s friendship was just that, a purely platonic relationship. Neither of us were attracted to each other, but I acknowledged that he was physically very attractive. My last thoughts as I drifted off were of a certain trickster god with a soft smile on his face…

Loki sat awake in bed, pondering the carefree sorceress. She was quite beautiful, with a curvy figure and soft facial features. Grey eyes that were complimented by her dirty blonde hair, and very kissable looking lips. Her smile when Susie made a flower crown for her was breathtaking, and Loki had lost himself staring at her.
Speaking of the little green dragon, she was curled up on his pillow right next to his head, snoring softly. Turning his head to look out the window, Loki gasped. The girl, Mina, was outside with her imprint… Alan? Yes, Alan, she seemed to sleeping on him, with her dog curled up at her side. But that wasn’t why he gasped. She had markings all over her body, glowing a bright blue. Other dragons were approaching her, laying down in a pile surrounding her in some sort of protective dog-pile. Dragon-pile…
Susie stirred next to him, and Loki turned back to her to see her unsteadily flying to the door. Loki smiled, shaking his head. Standing up, he grabbed the young dragon and walked her through the house and outside to the dragon-pile. Susie purred happily, gently taking his hand with her teeth and dragging him into the center of the pile, right next to Mina. What an odd occurrence…
Loki appeased Susie, settling down next to the glowing girl and pulling her into his arms. He felt comfortable with her, which was odd. He wasn’t a cuddler, he wasn’t usually very affectionate at all even with his lovers, but with this girl, he felt content.
Mina stirred a bit, causing Loki to tense up, but she settled down, snuggling her face into his chest. Loki smiled softly at the girl, slowly drifting off to sleep himself…

When I woke up, I found myself in the middle of a dragon-pile, as I called it. Going to sit up, I froze when I felt strong arms wrapped around my waist. Turning my head ever so slightly, I gasped as I saw Loki. He had a small smile on his face, and he seemed to be half asleep, his eyes still closed…
“Stay, love,” he murmured. “It’s too early to get up,” I ‘awe’d a bit. Who would’ve thought Loki was a cuddler?
“Okay,” I whispered with a soft smile, snuggling back into his chest.
“Good girl,” I felt the vibrations in his chest, and his lower than usual morning voice did something to my nether regions… I told my body to shut up and enjoy the snuggles, sex was not happening, I don’t care if I’m a high-functioning sub.
Soon I heard the swishes of a portal, and sure enough, Stephen’s voice rang a couple seconds later.
“Well don’t you look comfortable,” I could hear the smirk on his face.
“Piss of Stephen,” I mumbled, trying to lay back down, but Loki sat up, daggers appearing in his hands.
“Who are you?” he demanded, standing up, his hair magically taming itself. I’d have to learn to do that…
“I’m Dr. Stephen Strange,” Stephen said, raising an eyebrow. “You must be Loki, we’ve been looking for you,” at this he sent a pointed look in my direction, as if to say ‘why didn’t you tell me?’. I smiled sheepishly at him.
“He’s the sorcerer who helped me kill Thanos,” I said, standing up. The dragons were awake by now, and so was Xander. The dog bounded over to Stephen, knocking him over.
“Hey bud!” Stephen smiled. “Miss me?” Xander barked as confirmation. Loki’s daggers disappeared. I also saw out of the corner of my eye that the dragons were going back to their respective areas within the garden.
“So is this also the man who can come and go as he pleases?” Loki asked, and I nodded.
“Yep! He comes every Thursday to help me brush up on my skills, then we have a movie night!” I smiled, and Stephen nodded, coming over to me and giving me a bone-crushing hug.
“Ah,” Loki said simply, glancing awkwardly between Stephen and I, shifting from foot to foot.
“How’s Christine?” I asked Stephen, and he sighed.
“She broke it off,” he said, and I hugged him tighter. “Apparently having a ‘wizard boyfriend’ is too weird for her,” he grumbled, and I growled a bit.
“Her loss, hun. She should feel fucking honored that you’d look twice at her… “ I told him, pulling away. “Anyway!” I stated. “Proper introductions!” pulling Stephen the few feet over to Loki. “Loki, this is Dr. Stephen Strange, a fellow mystic arts user. Stephen, this is Loki, God of Mischief and… stuff,” I giggled. “I kind of forget the other stuff,” I mumbled sheepishly, and Loki smiled reassuringly.
“If it wasn’t for my ego, I would’ve forgotten too,” he chuckled, and I smiled back at him. Stephen cleared his throat after I stared at Loki quite a bit longer than was normal.
“Right! Sparring!” I exclaimed, leading the boys to the field where Stephen and I usually sparred. I heard Stephen laughing a bit as I speed walked away from them. Grabbing two of my relics that were already in the field, my dual swords with purple blades, I turned to Stephen.
“Shall we?” I asked, and he smirked. Conjuring two orange weapons, he got into a ready stance.
“We shall,” he nodded, and then he was charging at me. Deflecting his whip, I ducked, throwing an astral shard at him. He moved out of the way just in time, but I saw that Loki was standing rather close to us in the field. As Stephen and I circled each other, I glanced over my shoulder at Loki.
“Though I’m sure you can handle yourself, I suggest you go find somewhere else to watch,” I called to him, and then I saw a greenish glow surround him as he vanished. Turning back to Stephen, I narrowly avoided a jab to my throat as I side stepped, slashing at his left side, which he had left open. Haha, he left his left side open… Okay.
He groaned in pain, my slash had hit home. I smirked, stepping back and letting the energy from my relics, affectionately named Thing 1 and Thing 2, surround Stephen. A dark, visible energy lifted Stephen into the air, and he hung his head.
“Do you yield?” I asked, and he nodded, his weapons fizzing out. The energy dropped him, healing his wound in the process, and Stephen smiled.
“Good job,” He said, giving me a quick hug. I smiled proudly at him, before I heard a shuffling to my right. Turning my head just in time to see Loki become visible again, he smirked at Stephen.
“Well that was an awfully short fight,” he observed, and I nodded, Stephen groaning.
“The first one is always short,” I said. “Stephen needs to warm up a bit,” I pointedly looked to him, knowing he had been slacking on the physical part of his studies as of late. I mean, he still was slim and muscular, but he really needed to work on his stamina. I had always been on the chubby side, however I was fast and strong, and no matter what I did to try and lose weight, I stayed at the same weight with the same chubby figure.
“Yeah,” Stephen said quickly. “And there’s the fact that she’s been studying the mystic arts for 20 more years than I have,” he rolled his eyes, and I rolled mine right back.
“You know, in the 6 months since you first stepped foot in Kamar Taj, you’ve surpassed many sorcerers who have been studying even longer than I have,” I told him, and he waved me off.
“Not you though,” he sighed, and I swore my eyes were gonna get stuck if I kept rolling them at him.
“Anyway,” I pointedly said. “What do you boys think of some lunch, then we’ll spar some more,” I smiled, and Loki and Stephen nodded.
“Lunch would be lovely,” Loki said, taking my hand and pulling me back to my cottage. I heard something that sounded an awful lot like ‘charming bastard’ coming from Stephen, but I elected to ignore him.