Archive of Our Own ^beta

White walls. White floors. White ceilings. White lights and curtains, white masks and a white gown, white bandages and white sheets on a white bed. And a black furry face, lying on black arms on the sheets, eyes closed and snoring gently. 

Barry didn’t know when Loki had arrived, or even how long they themself had been in the hospital, passing out in Sonic’s arms as he carried them there. They had been woken up for the painkillers and removing the knife, then told to rest when the stitching and bandaging was complete, which had been easy enough after a long, deeply-exhausting day. There were curtains drawn around the bed, but the sunlight was visible through them, so they must have slept the whole night. Which meant that...

The quokka sat up and their shoulder immediately burned with pain, so they carefully laid back against the bed pillows. They had a shift at the Casino tomorrow - today - but their boss was a crazy dice-headed weirdo who helped Infinite and Wyre attack Loki, Quatre and Trois. They looked at the lemur, sleeping on his arms crossed over Barry’s legs. He looked peaceful, but maybe that would change when he woke up. Either way, there was no chance that Barry would be going to work today, even if they hadn’t had a knife thrown into their shoulder.

They sighed. It was lucky they’d already submitted their two-weeks’ notice for the Casino, but human cities were expensive, and human healthcare equally so - they would need another job. At least the unemployment officers would be lenient after a workplace injury as severe as this one. Barry looked at the bandages, trussed up in a sling and only slightly-stained red, and wondered if there was going to be any permanent damage. It was also lucky that they were right-handed and the knife had hit their left shoulder. 

All of a sudden, there was the sound of shoes jogging closer and the curtains parted. Loki immediately burst awake, pouncing from his curled-over position toward the intruder, and knocked a blue hedgehog to the ground with an accompanying clatter of medical equipment. Barry sat up to look at the mess, then recoiled back into the bed in pain.

“Killing you! Killing you dying dead!” they heard Loki growling, over the top of Sonic’s chuckled protests.

“Loki! Loki, chill out, it’s me, haha.”

The sound of struggling ended, and after a couple of seconds of the polished floors squeaking, both Loki and Sonic stood up into view, the lemur yawning and stretching. Sonic looked over at Barry, and smirked with a sort of confidence that gave Barry a little more energy just to behold. “How’s the shoulder, Barry?”

“Barry!” Loki gasped suddenly, then darted over to the quokka’s side and shoved his face up uncomfortably close to theirs. They couldn’t move for fear of making their shoulder hurt, and felt blood rushing to their cheeks, almost expecting Loki to kiss them again. “I am worried you have died. But you are okay.”

“Docs said it was mostly non-threatening,” Sonic said, stepping around the other side of the bed. “It’ll take some time to heal, but it’ll all be back to normal eventually.”

Loki snapped his head toward Sonic. “And what if the knife is poison, hm? Are you considering this?”

Barry furrowed their brows. “Uh... It wasn’t, was it...?”

Loki didn’t move his head, but his eyes flicked toward Barry and his voice lowered to a whisper. “Ssh. He is not knowing this. I am making the point.”

“I can hear you, y’know,” the hedgehog snickered, and Loki frowned, then stood back up straight, finally giving Barry a little more room to breathe. Sonic met eyes with the quokka again, and put a hand on his hip. “Who woulda thought the Casino would be more dangerous than the abandoned theme park or a runaway robot train?”

Barry smiled awkwardly. “Yeah...” they mumbled, and wanted to add a comment about how Infinite and Wyre had been the real problems, but with Loki stood right there, they kept it to themself. Loki was nodding, though.

“It is obviously. Casino is for the gambling, already too very dangerous.”

“Only if ya lose,” Sonic winked. Barry watched Loki stick his tongue out, but Sonic’s face sobered into seriousness as he glanced toward Barry again. “Anyway... about the guys that did it. Infinite, some rabbit called Letters, or A-B-C or something...”

“Abe Easy,” Barry nodded. “And it was working with the boss of Casinopolis, my boss, Hugo.”

“Yeah. Tall guy, helmet like the Phantom Ruby, always yelling, right? Supposedly said he owned Twinkle Park, too, but Jewel says there’s no record of him buying the place, or anyone, for that matter. Infinite’s flunkies downstairs say he doesn’t seem like a bad guy, just a little...” Sonic said, then twirled a finger by the side of his head.

“Are they alright? Quatre and Trois?” Barry asked, eyes flicking over to Loki, whose arms were crossed and eyes slightly lidded, still tired. Meanwhile, the hedgehog nodded.

“Headband’s got a big ol’ infinity symbol scarred in his back now, and tank-top’s bruised but alright. They said you promised ‘em help to find their old Jackal Squad buddies?”

He looked concerned, and Barry gently waved a hand of dismissal. “They’re not bad people, they just had a bad boss. All together again, they might be a good help in finding Infinite and Wy-”

They cut themself off, but not before Sonic’s eyes had turned toward Loki, and Barry looked over too. The lemur looked as nonchalant and tired as before, but noticed the two staring at him, and turned up his nose. “I am not so bothered to be hearing Wyre’s name. He is death to me.”

Barry and Sonic’s concerned eyes met, and the hedgehog cleared his throat. “Well, good, ‘cause we gotta find out where they’ve run off to, and you’re the only person who might have a clue. So...”

“I am clueless. No ideas or knowings where he is going, and I am keeping to this way.”

“Nothing? There wasn’t anything Wyre was thinking about lately, any plans, goals, even just where you guys were headed next after Station Square?”

“No,” Loki said flatly. “We are usually to going places so randomly, like the giraffe on the skateboard. And even if I am knowing, I am not telling you.”

Barry frowned, while Sonic rubbed his quills with a sigh. “I’m not gonna hurt him, he’s my buddy too, I just wanna figure out why he’d do something like this.”

He gestured to Barry, who watched Loki look toward them before glaring back at Sonic with a stoic smolder. “That is the problems. He is deserving to be hurted.”

Sonic shook his head disappointedly, and Barry knew they had to mediate. “Sonic, why don’t you give me and Loki 5 minutes to talk?” they suggested. Sonic raised an eyebrow at the quokka, then shrugged and offered a smirk.

“Sure. I’ll be downstairs, go see if those jackals have anything else. Back soon, and hey- glad you’re doing good!”

He stepped out through the curtains and closed them behind him, and both Loki and Barry listened to his footsteps lightly jogging to the door and leaving. With the sound of the door closing, Loki let out a heavy sigh of relief, and Barry smiled at him. “What was that for?”

Loki waved a hand in the vague direction of the door. “Sonic is always getting up my nerves.”

“Why?”

The lemur looked at Barry, puzzled. “Hm?”

“Why does he annoy you?”

His head turned away again, staring at an uninteresting fold of the curtains. “No reason. Just is.”

Barry held in a sigh. Maybe it was too soon to be pressing Loki about his feelings, but if they wanted to help Sonic, this was their only choice. “So... you didn’t go after Wyre?”

He cocked his head at the curtains. “You are hurted, he is not. How is it calling? Triangle. You are needing me mostly.”

Barry screwed up their face for a moment. “Oh... you mean triage?” Loki wobbled his head on his shoulders, then went back to looking at the curtains, then the floor. “But I thought Sonic took me here. You could have gone after Wyre, and it would have been fine.”

The lemur’s face turned to look at Barry, his eyes finally sorrowful. “But you are needing someone to protecting you in the night.”

Barry’s first impulse was to keep questioning him, but with the expression on his face, they could see this was important to him, somehow. “I... thank you, Loki.”

His entire body seemed to light up with energy at that, a grin almost impossibly wide stretching out his face. “And you are so safe, so I am the so very goodest protecting. Wyre is never the problem again for you.”

“Then... what are you gonna do next?” Barry asked, thinking about Loki standing off against both Wyre and Infinite alone. Loki was strong, but he couldn’t take both of them at once, and he clearly wasn’t going to work with Sonic. But the lemur looked at them with surprise, as if they had just asked what colour the sky was.

“I am just saying Wyre is never the problem for you. I am protecting you now to forever. Loki the Quokki-guard.”

Barry was glad they weren’t connected to a heart rate monitor, else the doctors might have assumed they were having a heart attack. “W-what?! F-forever?!”

“Well, I am not living this long, but closely enough.”

The quokka took a few deep breaths, but Loki’s look of concern was enough to force them to calm down, afraid that further protective language would only send them into more of a fluster. “I... uh... I’m flattered, but... um... what if... you become a target for Wyre and Infinite, and that puts me in danger? Right?”

Loki folded his arms. “Then I am protecting you. This is the job prescription.”

Right... obviously. Barry gazed at the sheets in shocked silence, and after a little while the lemur leaned over to look at the same spot carefully, then gave Barry a questioning glance. “You are okay?”

“Yeah, I... Loki, I really appreciate it, and yesterday was...” they began, but couldn’t think of the right words to finish, so started again. “...I’m thankful, but I... don’t... need this. Protection. I’m... sorry.”

They squeezed the sheets as they said it, and could only manage flashes of contact with Loki’s wide eyes before returning to staring at the linen’s folds. When they were done, they managed one last glance towards the lemur, but now his eyes were similarly unfocused and his posture more slumped than before. “But... what am I to doing now, then?” he mumbled. Barry didn’t have an answer for him, and they sat in silence for a moment.

“Maybe... you could get a doctor and ask when they’ll be letting me go?” they finally suggested, but Loki put both hands on the bed with a face of despair.

“Then what if Wyre is coming to killing you right now?!”

“He, uh, he won’t,” Barry said, putting on an appeasing smile. Loki shook his head.

“Then what if Sonic the Hog is coming here and I am gone?”

Barry felt their fake smile melting into something more genuine. “I... think I can handle myself with him.”

Loki shook his head emphatically. “No, no no, Wyre is saying the same thing and now looking at him. Evil crazy bad. I must saving you from this.”

The final penny dropped, and Barry fought off a blush with a little sigh. “Are you... jealous?”

Loki’s face froze for a second, surprised, but when he shook himself out of it he was back in the same wide-eyed serious look as before. “Wyre is saying this exactingly! You are already falling to the evils.”

His earnestness was disarmingly funny, and Barry decided to roll with it. “Oh no... so what’s the cure?”

Loki stood out of his seat and walked over to the curtain, peeking through, then turned back around. “We must getting you out of here before the hog is coming back and corruption you more,” he said resolutely, and Barry’s amusement disappeared in an instant.

“Uh- hold on, I was just messing around, I...”

Loki seemed to ignore them as he headed to Barry’s side, grabbed the sheets and threw them off the bed, then bent his knees and slid his hands underneath the quokka. They shuffled to the side as much as they could, but hissed through a grimace as their shoulder stung, and Loki’s movements became slower and gentler, supporting Barry’s back and legs with his arms and carefully lifting them off the bed. “There we gone.”

“Loki, ah, I really think this isn’t a good idea...”

“Notsense. You are only needing to rest like the candle on the desk. Be so calm.”

With a surprisingly-smooth turn, Loki carried Barry away from the bed and through the curtains into the main area of the hospital room, a ward with a handful of other beds, only a couple of them with patients giving Loki and Barry odd looks. The morning sunlight from a wide window carried warmth, and Loki walked over to it to peer outside for a moment, looking down a couple of floors onto the busy streets of Station Square. Barry couldn’t lean to look down, so instead looked at the glistening glass of the skyscrapers and took a deep breath, accepting the predicament they’d ended up in. As troublesome as he was, Loki at least only meant well.

“The seaside is clear,” Loki said, spinning around and marching toward the ward’s exit. After Barry put together what he meant, they looked up into his face and he glanced down, then gave a confident smile. “You are so lighter than Wyre. Easy to carrying. Maybe you are needing to eating some better.”

Barry managed an awkward laugh and looked away as they reached a branching corridor, then noticed a blue hedgehog walking a few dozen metres away, waving as he came towards them. Barry raised their good arm and waved back, making Loki take notice, and the lemur squatted into a ready stance. “Hm! Let us going quickly. Holding on!”

Barry looked nervously up at Loki’s steadfast face, then put their arm around Loki’s back to secure themself. The lemur pivoted away from the hedgehog and kicked into a speedy powerwalk, still remaining remarkably steady so as not to hurt Barry’s shoulder, and ignored a passing human doctor yelling at them not to run in the halls. Loki weaved between guests, cleaners and beds getting wheeled around, then finally spotted an elevator at the end of the hall, its doors just starting to open. Loki sped up and Barry started to bounce a little in his arms, prompting a few little squeaks of pain, but as Loki barged past the two nurses exiting the elevator he skidded to a halt and looked down with concern. “Are you okies? I am sorry.”

Barry smiled through a wince. “It’s alright... but I think it’d be better if I walked. My legs are just fine...”

The lemur blinked. “Oh. Yes,” he said, then carefully let Barry’s legs down and helped them stand up straight in the elevator. Their bare feet were a little cold on the metal elevator floor, and they briefly wondered where their clothes from yesterday were until they looked out of the elevator’s doors and spotted Sonic again, seemingly still exactly where he had been before, hands on his hips and foot tapping on the ground. They gave Loki a sidelong glance and saw the lemur sticking out his tongue toward the hedgehog, and chuckled. Then the elevator doors beeped and began to close, and almost in the blink of an eye Sonic burst into a run, zigzagging down the hall in a whirling trail of blue, and his gloved hand squeezed between the elevator doors just before they shut completely. Loki groaned as the doors slid back open and revealed Sonic, smirking and looking between the two smugly.

“What’s the hurry, guys? Checkin’ out so soo-” Sonic began, before a human hand clapped on his shoulder and span him around to face a stern-looking doctor with grey hair and glasses, wagging a finger disparagingly.

“No running in the halls! I don’t care if you’re the hero of Station Square, it’s an enormous hazard...”

Loki shook his stuck-out tongue at the back of Sonic’s head as the doors closed, and Barry glanced up at the illuminated floor buttons. “We’re going up...” they mumbled, but Loki just nodded.

“This is good. Sonic will not expecting this.”

“But how are we gonna get out if we’re going up?”

“You will thinking of something.”

Barry blinked. “I will?” they said, and Loki nodded again. “But I don’t... why me?”

“You are the clever.”

Barry sighed. “Well, you’re clever too! And I’m, y’know...” they gestured to their shoulder.

The lemur’s face brightened up. “You are thinking I am clever?”

The doors to the elevator beeped then slid open to a sight that paralysed Barry before they could respond. Fresh sunlight filled the box, and Loki squinted out with pouted lips at the raised-edges of a rooftop and the office blocks beyond it. With a few careful steps to test their shoulder, Barry walked out of the lift and looked back at it. The rubber floor panels seemed to have been torn through by the elevator, and there were no cables above it to pull it up. They glanced at Loki nervously, but the lemur was taking a deep breath and basking in the warm morning sun.

“Loving that fresh of breath air,” he sighed, before finally catching Barry looking at him and smiled. “You are not feeling so nice?”

“The elevator,” Barry mumbled, then looked back at it again. “Elevators don’t go to empty rooftops... this might be some Phantom Ruby thing.”

The lemur’s eyebrow raised. “Hugo?”

“I don’t know, but-” Barry began, but interrupted themself as they turned to the rest of the roof and noticed a caravan that hadn’t been there before. It sparkled in the light as if freshly-cleaned, the colourful banner painted onto its side reading “Arcadian AceX”, with the final ‘s’ of the logo crossed out with slightly-pinkish crimson paint. It was the caravan they’d ridden yesterday, or a copy of it, or maybe the one yesterday was a copy, and Barry scratched their head in confusion. Loki, however, seemed pleasantly surprised.

“I am thinking this was sinking and destroyed like the fish in the desert,” he remarked, stepping up to it and inspecting it up and down.

“You’re not wondering how it got here?” Barry asked, but the lemur pointed at a trio of white lines painted around the base of the caravan, the only ones on the whole roof.

“Rooftop parkings.”

Barry sighed. “What I mean is who put it here? If it is Hugo, or Letters...”

Loki shook his head, walking over to Barry with folded arms. “You are worrying of everything so too much. There is no problems now, and we are fixing the problems if they are happened,” he said, then tapped Barry on the nose, and they flinched. “Wyre is knowing this, you should learning this too.”

Barry waved Loki’s hand away and furrowed their brows at the lemur. “I thought Wyre was the one telling you to make plans. I know you’re good at improvising, but after yesterday-” they said, but stopped themself as their shoulder burned with pain and hunched over with gritted teeth. In a flash, Loki was beside them, hands gently placed on their sides.

“Oioi... caring fully. You are okie?” he mumbled, and helped Barry straighten up. “We are needing to getting out of here.”

Barry took a few deep breaths. “Yeah... but how are we gonna get this off the roof? And where do we even go?” they sighed. Loki’s mouth remained shut, even as Barry looked questioningly up at him, like he was waiting for Barry to continue. The quokka raised an eyebrow, and Loki did too, then they cocked their head at him, and he did too. Finally, Barry gave up with a chuckle. “You did have a plan... all along, huh?”

Loki straightened up and looked away, off the rooftop. “No, I am not knowing what you are talking around.”

Barry peered around the side of his head to make eye contact again, and the lemur’s nonchalant face cracked a smile. “Ok... then do you have any ideas where we’re gonna go?” Barry asked, to which Loki shrugged.

“You are having... bester ideas. You are the Boss, yes.”

“Ok... well... I guess there’s this place I’ve been renting-”

“Your plates!” Loki chirped, taking Barry’s hand and preparing to shake it vigorously before clearly thinking about the bandages again and stepping back, shaking the air instead. “So very good ideas. Let us going,” he said, then turned and started toward the caravan immediately. Barry waited by the edge of the roof, knowing Loki would look back eventually, and right as the lemur pulled on the driver-side door handle, he did, then blinked obliviously. “You are okie?”

“Loki... are you sure?”

Loki closed the caravan door and put his hands together, wringing them like he was nervous. This was a very different look to anything Barry had seen from him in the last 24 hours. “Is this too... too troubles for you?”

Barry shook their head, then stepped over to stand in front of him, and he looked up with a smile that only barely hinted at his apprehension. Barry thought it was sweet. “I just... would like if all the cards are on the table,” they said, then spotted confusion rising, and hurriedly added a “...metaphorically speaking. In all honesty... did you plan to have me invite you back to mine?”

Loki moved his hands behind his back. “Not to the mines, I am not liking caves.”

“I mean... to my place. My apartment.”

He couldn’t avoid this one, and shrugged. “Okie, yes. I am not expecting the caravan, though.”

There was a light indignance to his tone, like he was upset he’d been caught, but nonetheless, Barry blushed. It was a nice feeling. “Okay. Well, uh... in all honesty, I, um, I’d be happy to host you. I... do probably have to take things easy for a while, just so you’re clear on that...”

Now, Loki’s face appeared almost sorrowful. “This is making you happy?”

“Yeah,” Barry said, and the lemur’s sad eyes sparkled with serenity as a grin filled his cheeks. “There’s gonna be rules... and I don’t know what I’m gonna do about this Casinopolis job. I... might need your help. Is that alright?”

“I am the helperest. Already the Quokki-guard, after alls!” Loki nodded energetically, and was about to turn back to the caravan door again before Barry raised a hand and he stopped. Their hand was shaking a little, and their stomach was churning with anticipation. They remembered their awkward confidence in that caravan just yesterday, feeling like a hero for helping Loki solve a dumb little puzzle that he eventually figured out himself anyway. It didn’t matter. They were just happy to be a part of it.

“Loki... can I... can, uh... can I kiss... you?”

The lemur blinked, squeezed his hands into fists and bounced on his tiptoes once, and finally nodded eagerly with the force of a jackhammer. Barry waited for him to stop, then took a step forward, avoiding eye contact until they were right in front of him, and chuckling nervously. Loki giggled too, then made kissy-lips and teasingly smacked them a few times, pulling a more sincere snicker from Barry, which helped. At last, Barry closed their eyes and leaned in, a little clumsily missing Loki’s lips with their own, but the lemur adjusted for them and the pair shared a soft, subdued little kiss, and for a moment, Barry couldn’t feel the pain in their shoulder.

They broke off the kiss first, leaning out again and opening their eyes to the surprising sight of no Loki. Then the lemur crashed down onto the rooftop very suddenly, landing into a squat and bouncing up straight again like a jack-in-the-box. Barry watched him in incredulity as he spun toward the caravan door and yanked it open, then sprang inside and pulled the door shut, leaned out the window, and glowed with blissful energy. “Coming in, coming in, we shall going to your plates!”

Barry let out their astonishment as another anxious chuckle, then carefully adjusted their sling’s strap and began to step around the caravan before the sound of a door swinging open and a triumphant snarky voice interrupted them. “Found you!”

Barry looked over at the place where the elevator had once been, now an ordinary open doorway to a staircase, with a blue hedgehog leaning against its frame with crossed arms. “How’d you get that up here?” he asked semi-rhetorically, nodding toward the caravan. Barry glanced back toward it, and saw Loki shrunk into his seat inside, seemingly trying to avoid being seen.

“Sonic... sorry for running off. We, uh... wanted some... fresh air,” Barry said, while Sonic stepped out of the doorway and looked out over the city.

“Nothing gets me feeling better!” the hedgehog declared, stretching his arms out in the morning sunlight, then looking back at Barry with a smirk. “And I’ve never liked hospitals either. Valuable service, but I’d tear my quills out if I had to stay in one for long.”

Barry smiled and walked over to the edge of the rooftop beside Sonic. “I wanted to thank you for saving me... uh... again.”

“No prob! It’s what I do!” he grinned, then glanced back toward the caravan. Barry did too, and spotted Loki peeking out of the window jealously. “I know you’re the one with the bandages, but how’s Loki doin’?”

“He’ll be alright...” Barry laughed, turning back around to look over the roof edge at the street below, but vertigo hit quickly and they backed away a step. Sonic put a hand on his hip and lowered his voice.

“I was kinda worried he was kidnappin’ ya or somethin’. Sure that’s not what’s going on? With Wyre apparently goin’ crazy and all, maybe Loki’s caught the loony-bug.”

“If anything, Loki probably originated it,” Barry whispered with a snicker. “It’s alright. But thanks...”

“Cool. Now, before I go, I never got to ask if there’s anything else I should know about yesterday. Or, more accurately, you never got to answer,” Sonic smirked. Barry scratched their head.

“I... don’t think so. Maybe... Letters seemed like it was two different people. The real one... I’m not sure what its deal was, but it seemed a little bored with its job at the Casino, I guess. And the other one, I think it was created by Hugo, or was Hugo’s impression of what Letters used to be like. Maybe... I’m not sure, I’m sorry...”

Sonic patted Barry on their good shoulder. “Hey, any info is good info. I think I’m gonna enlist the Chaotix to track down some of this Hugo’s old associates, find out what they know, if they’ve seen him.”

Barry’s heart pounded, and they didn’t know why at first. Then came the realisation of what it meant, and they looked into Sonic’s eyes. “Actually... if it’s alright, I think you should focus on Wyre and Infinite. I think... I think Loki will want to find Hugo. And...”

The hedgehog nodded understandingly. “I can do that. Thanks, buddy. You’re a serial hero now! How’s it feel?” Barry flushed and reverted back to awkwardness in an instant, to which Sonic laughed. “You’ll get used to it. Now, I’ve gotta get back to Tails’ place, he’s got some new gizmo for me to test out.”

“Ok... thanks again,” Barry said shyly, then gave a squirrely little wave and started back toward the caravan, whose driver-side door swung open as they approached, a single gloved hand reaching out to offer help getting in.

“Y’know, something tells me he doesn’t like me,” Sonic called from behind. “Does he even have a plan to get that thing off this roof?”

“Yes!” Loki cried, popping his face out of the cab and back in again like a whack-a-mole. The hedgehog smiled and shrugged.

“Alrighty. See ya later then!” he said, then disappeared in a whooshing blur of cobalt blue. The wind rushed behind him and Barry held their hospital gown from blowing up and revealing everything, before something plush but tight wrapped around their waist and lifted them off their feet, pulling them into the car. Loki’s tail plopped the quokka onto the lemur’s lap, and they looked down at him in flustered surprise, his enchanted grin shining up into their face. He leaned in and pecked Barry on the lips, then lifted them with his tail and placed them on the passenger seat across the cab. Barry took a moment to process everything as the tail unwrapped and Loki closed the door, and the lemur looked across at them with a serious expression on his face as he gripped the steering wheel.

“I have doing the thinking. When you are okie... I am thinking I must going afterward Hugo and Letters. Not... Wyre.” 

Barry looked back into the lemur’s eyes, and there was no sadness there any more. Instead, he had that same look of confident determination he had when facing all those puzzles and problems yesterday.

“You are... coming too?”

Barry smiled. “Uh... ok. Yeah. Sounds like a plan.”

Loki beamed, then slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the caravan’s screeching tires span into motion, driving the vehicle directly into the edge of the rooftop and bursting through, soaring into the air a dozen stories high as Barry screamed in horror.