[ The fastest way to immobilise Loki is not with traps or tricks, as SHIELD believes, but with an embrace built on foundations of trust and love that melt his defences in one wave. He burrows against Billy, arms curled up between two chests and fingers snagged in a pyjama top.

Billy is a bad liar. ]

It's just ... [ The quiet confession is to a neck and shoulder, unsteady sighs still warm. He closes his eyes and stays buried in Billy's arms. ] I, I thought if I gave him everything, then he could want for nothing ...

[ His voice cracks on a miserable truth, one that cuts off his mental ability to trust in anyone else these days to such a degree. ]

But it didn't mean enough. I wasn't enough, and I knew I wasn't usually but I thought, ah, maybe with one person ...