small-potato-of-defiance:

thedoormowse:

Plot bunny of the day:

Loki is returned to Earth, to Avengers custody, when Asgard determines his actions during the invasion coerced/non-voluntary. Usually stories with this set-up involve Clint regarding Loki with suspicion and/or having Loki’s presence trigger Clint.

Let’s flip that.

Clint is a trained operative in a secret intelligence agency, and before that a mercenary. What happened during the invasion wasn’t fun by any stretch of the imagination, but he can deal. He’s worked undercover before, and the experience, while extreme, is not entirely unlike spending too much time in the headspace of a particularly un-Clint-like cover identity. There’s protocol for this kind of thing, okay? It takes a bit of effort to get his head on straight, but he has family and friends and mandatory SHIELD counseling. 

Loki does not have that background or grounding network. He’s barely adult, all the emotional bonds he held prior to the events of Thor are strained if not outright shattered, and he’s expected to “make restitution” to an alien people for actions that occurred while his body and mind were held hostage to the whims of an omnicidal sadist. On top of that, as far he understands Midgardian culture, SHIELD is an organization comprised of people who have no qualms killing and/or torturing their prisoners. And fancy language aside, Loki has no illusions about his status.

As far as Loki knows, Clint kills people for money. And when he needed to bypass Midgardian-style security protocols, this same assassin requested “an eyeball and a distraction.” 

The Avengers know Loki is avoiding Clint but they don’t realize why. 

Until a situation occurs that forces Clint and Loki to work together, and the ease of that collaboration trips Loki into a flashback.