#incrediblewithin

@incrediblewithin asked: Headcanon ask spam because I love Loki

So, since you asked me for more random headcanons, I really wanted to take this as an opportunity to discuss something you and I have talked about privately, but I’ve been meaning to write a headcanon on for a while and haven’t gotten around to yet.

And that is the stigma wrapped into MCU over the scene in the original Avengers film where Hulk smashes Loki and results in Loki being terrified of Hulk. MCU loves to portray Loki being terrified of Hulk. The fandom loves grabbing ahold of the idea and running with it that Loki’s terrified of Hulk. It’s a huge thing and, to be quite honest with you? I think it’s kind of stupid.

I mean? Okay, Hulk picked Loki up and smashed them around a couple of times. Loki’s body literally broke the concrete floors because Loki’s body can withstand extreme amounts of damage. In actuality, Hulk didn’t really hurt them all that much. A few scrapes and bruises and what was likely a sore hip, but that’s it.

Hulk didn’t maim Loki. Hulk didn’t break Loki. Hulk didn’t do even a fraction of the damage he could have done. Loki was able to stand up and walk it off almost immediately ( Loki lying there was pure dramatics, let’s be honest ). So yes, it hurt, but was it a beating worth developing an actual fear of Hulk? No, absolutely not. Loki, who has been in literal wars, who has taken beatings from Gods, Goddesses, and monsters, who has given birth to massive children, who has been through literal physical and psychological torture...

Would not be terrified of someone just because they beat them up, you feel me?

I know it’s comical to think about Loki being positively fearful of Hulk, but I really don’t see a basis for that line of thought at all. Odin would be more terrifying to Loki than Hulk and we see Loki literally dethrone Odin, put a spell on him so he forgot his own memory, and yeeted him off Asgard. Thanos would be more terrifying to Loki than Hulk and we see Loki--while fearful--willingly stand up to Thanos.

I don’t know about y’all, but someone being strong enough to pick them up and toss them around would not result in unrelenting fear of said person. Loki is a literal deity who has faced far worse things than Hulk’s brute strength, so this melodramatic overreaction MCU and the fandom loooove to cling to really makes me squint. 

A lot. 

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Hulk actually helped Loki more than anything else.

While it was speculation for a long time, we now canonly know that Loki was not only working for Thanos but under the control of the Mind Gem during the events of the Avengers. The Gem is part of the reason we see a version of Loki we’ve never seen. Sickly, unable to stand up straight, taking enjoyment in pure violence, mimicking behavior he’d seen in Odin, literally taking control of people’s minds and unleashing an army on people totally and completely unprepared to deal with an advanced alien lifeform? 

We’ve seen Loki’s fall, but his crimes in the original Thor film were no worse than that of his brother’s--the story’s hero. The events of that film were pieces to the puzzle, but the truth is, Loki went through a massive change after falling from the Bifrost. Loki appeared on Midgard as a completely different person, a person hardly recognizable as Loki outside of appearance and aesthetic. Much of that was Thanos’s abuse and influence built on top of Loki’s already existing pain, but a lot of it was also the Infinity Stone inside their mind.

Hulk is the first person we see confront Loki who can actually leave a mark on them at all. Hulk is the first person we see who is able to stand up to Loki and actually harm and/or subdue them in any way. Hulk is the first person after Thanos and his followers who actually manages to get through to Loki.

I don’t know that Hulk completely knocked the Mind Gem’s hold out of Loki’s head. I have quite a few thoughts on the process of being separated from the Gem and how traumatic not having its presence actually was for Loki and it took quite a bit of time to remove, recover, and cope with the loss, but I do 100% believe that Hulk’s thrashing of Loki is the first time Loki’s able to think with a clear mind, the first time the Mind Gem’s hold on Loki slips up for any significant period of time.

Think about it, truly and honestly. Loki had two Infinity Stones and an alien army with advanced weaponry at their disposal. On top of Loki’s own magic, battle prowess, experience, intelligence, and unpredictability ( while being able to predict the thoughts, behaviors, and actions of their opponents quite well ), Loki should not have had any issue defeating five mortals and their brother. 

But instead of getting up after Hulk’s smashing session and continuing on, Loki just laid there? We know for a fact that Hulk didn’t damage Loki much, because they literally walk it off within minutes. So Loki just? Laid there? Giving the Avengers the time they needed to put a stop to their plans without Loki interfering at all? Just for the dramatics of it?

Loki literally failed the one mission Thanos demanded they complete or else because they just sat around after Hulk threw them into the ground a few times.

Why?

Because the Mind Gem’s hold on Loki wavered then, started shaking loose, and for the first time in a long, long time Loki had the ability to stop, analyze what they were doing, understand that it was not only wrong but not something they actively wanted and could make the conscious decision not to continue.

I have another headcanon to write about Loki losing the war on purpose, so I won’t ramble too much about that here, but the truth of the matter is, Loki’s not afraid of Hulk and honest to Gods, Hulk helped Loki more than I think Hulk was even capable of knowing.

Upon remeeting, Loki might have been hesitant or unsure based on not knowing how Hulk would react to them, but uncertainty is not the same thing as fear. If nothing else, Loki would probably apologize for the cruel words they said about Hulk ( the insults that literally prompted Hulk to attack Loki. People love to make Loki into a victim in this situation, but Loki was not a victim. Hulk was protecting himself, his friends, and responding to Loki blatantly insulting him in the mix of it all. There is not victimization of Loki in this scenario ) and thank Hulk for their help because, truly, Hulk did help them. So much.

So yeah, I’d love to drop this dumb stereotype that a literal God is terrified of Hulk because of the one time Hulk managed to cause a couple of booboos and called them puny. Hulk is the last person Loki would actually be afraid of.

That said, Loki doesn’t exactly want to be tossed around by Hulk again, but that’s not fear, that’s just common sense. 

Going down to the labs was always a struggle and a half. It was intimidating, for a whole host of reasons. A lot of the time Steve didn’t understand what was happening in them, for one. Equations and advanced machinery and honest to god self-operating robots- it was all way above Steve’s pay grade. For another, anything resembling labs or hospital wards intrinsically gave him the creeps and he made it a habit to avoid them if he could. He’d spent too much time in wards as a kid and then in labs during his time with the SSR to appreciate anything about him.

Another reason, however, was less personal and more social. He never really felt like he had a place in the lab. Bruce was polite but dismissive most of the time, and Tony either ignored him completely in favor of a project or ended up throwing verbal barbs at Steve until he left anyway. Neither of them were particularly malicious about it, but it was clear they wanted to work and not be bothered. Steve could understand that, and had since made an effort to avoid disturbing the scientists. 

Even so, Bruce had been pestering him for weeks about coming down to his floor to get looked at, a sort of annual check-up on Steve and the serum. Since Erskine had died and took all the details of the serum with him, Bruce was the next leading expert on it- something which still sometimes threw Steve for a loop. Setting aside waking up 70 years in the future, Steve never in a million years would have thought a doctor would have created someone like Hulk while trying to re-create the serum. It made him thank his lucky stars Erskine had been able to make the serum work the first time.

Honestly Steve wasn’t even sure what the point of these check-ups were. To make sure the serum wasn’t failing him, one organ at a time? To see if it had mutated beyond control and he was becoming less human by the day? The possibilities somewhat terrified him, and so in typical fashion he staunchly didn’t think about it.  He was almost positive it wasn’t for re-creating the serum, not anymore. If there was something wrong with him, Bruce would tell him, simple as that. 

Still, after almost a week straight of messages from Bruce, varying from polite reminders to thinly veiled threats, Steve had admitted that it was time to just get it over with. It really wasn’t even that bad- an hour or two of being poked and prodded, nothing even painful or invasive. Steve just hated letting people poke and prod at him. Even people he trusted, like Bruce. They’d definitely had their ups and downs, but he considered the doctor a trustworthy teammate, maybe even a friend. Hopefully the feeling was mutual, but Steve wasn’t going to push it. 

Steve knocked on the wall as he walked into the lab, calling out Bruce’s name in greeting. As usual the space was organized chaos, neat stacks over every surface, the odd mug or plate scattered about. He wondered how much time Bruce actually spent down here, if maybe he should make an effort to drag him out more. The thoughts derailed however as Bruce came around the corner, and Steve gave him a sheepish grin.

@incrediblewithin​ asked: Our muses waking up in each others arms after accidentally falling asleep 👀 - Bruce

cuddles! - accepting.

MOVIES HAVE NEVER REALLY HELD HIS ATTENTION VERY WELL. this one made a valiant effort, but he’s out before it’s really even half over, sprawled over the couch all loose-limbed and huge and heavy. he drapes himself over furniture like he is trying to become part of it, somehow finding himself comfortable despite pretty much any position he finds himself in.

one leg falls haphazard off the couch, one arm is crammed under his head, and the other is curled ‘round bruce loosely and comfortably. and he is comfortable, this god of thunder ( though he does snore and he’s warm enough to act as a personal heater ), content and loose and RELAXED —

and woken by the menus repeating of whatever movie they’d had on, and it’s with a narrow-eyed squint that his eyes crack open at the television — and that glance follows down to bruce, and he hesitates in his reaching for the remote.

their relationship has been a complicated thing of late; he hasn’t been quite sure where they stand, and he’s been content with taking it slow and letting things meander where they may. but this? THIS moment? he’ll steal this moment and let it linger.

the glow of the television screen washes over them as he, with infinite care, sneaks an arm over to fumble with trying to get the remote off the table without moving very much — and he’s nearly successful, but it tips off his fingertips and clatters to the floor and he sneaks a glance down and bruce is stirring. he smiles, easy, thumb rolling an absent circle between bruce’s shoulders, and he just chuckles low in his throat.

❛ mm. looks like we missed the end of it. ❜

a  worthy  distraction ,  foot  taps  rhythmically  with  the  song  he  had  playing  in  his  head.     hot girl bummer  ---  what  an  earworm.

{ @incrediblewithin } || random asks – status; always accepting

This is actually a headcanon I’ve been meaning to write for a long time and since Heimdall has popped up on my blog quite a few times this evening, I thought I’d take this random headcanon prompt as an excuse to finally crack down on write this.

By now, it’s not a shock to anyone that I 100% ship Loki and Heimdall. I support them, they’re doing their best while screaming gayly at the top of their lungs, and in modern threads where Loki and Heimdall’s relationship has developed into a romantic one, it’s easy for some to forget that Heimdall has literally been in Loki’s life since Loki was a newborn brought against their will to Asgard.

Which raises the questions, what was their relationship like in earlier years? How did Loki view Heimdall throughout the course of their lifetime? And why did their relationship go through so many changes?

Well, we’ll start with when Loki was young. Based on your headcanon ( @bifrostgold ), Heimdall was ordered to look away from Jotunheim when Odin took Loki. Running with that because, to me, it makes the most logical sense that Heimdall would be aware that Loki was not actually Aesir or Odin’s child, but unaware of the details of the second prince’s true origins, and also being forced by Odin to never speak of the matter, it would make so much sense that Heimdall would feel a certain… bond with Loki and a desire to look after Loki where Odin would no doubt fail.

Heimdall, after all, is not of Asgard, and he, too, is forced to be there by Odin’s control. While Loki’s situation was never the same as Heimdall’s, the similarities speak for themselves and the truth is, Odin uses and controls them for different purposes and by different means, but does so all the same.

So I’ve always felt like Heimdall had a strong presence in Loki’s younger years, especially when Loki’s magic began to flare up so violently and at such a young age. While yes, Loki had Frigga and a few other people to turn to who were well versed in magic (like Asmund, Loki’s healer, and Sigurd, Odin’s advisor who favored him from an early age), Loki’s abilities and reach quickly outgrew them, which left the youngest prince with fewer and fewer options and outlets to turn to. 

Heimdall, however, was always a strong presence with such inherently powerful magic that Loki often felt safe going to him, and safer still to show their fear, pain, and aggression. Heimdall, in Loki’s youngest years, was something of a caregiver. Not a parent, per se, but an influence in Loki’s life that helped bring some of Loki’s more positive traits to the surface.

Because Heimdall stood as a symbol to all of Asgard of someone who was always watching and always wanted to keep them safe, Loki sort of fell into a bit of a trap of idolizing him too. Heimdall was someone to look up to for his strength, his optimism, his kindness, and his impressive range on ancient magic that would make even the most powerful sorcerer tremble at the idea of. So much power and yet, Heimdall never sought to harm others with it, never seemed to think himself better than those around him, and always treated everyone with some level of respect or kindness. 

Loki didn’t necessarily want to be just like Heimdall, but the little prince always hoped some of Heimdall’s better qualities might rub off on them.

Heimdall’s gentle guidance and support at such an early age really did help keep Loki grounded. It helped Loki keep a solid grasp on the ever-growing power they possessed and it helped Loki from growing angry or resentful or so frustrated they might completely give up on learning to properly wield their magic. 

As Loki grew older and their perception of the world shifted more and more violently, Heimdall seemed like the one weight that would never change and Loki took comfort in the Watcher’s presence, in his teachings, and even in those moments when Loki found themselves sitting at the end of the Bifrost, talking to Heimdall because they felt as if they had no one else to talk to. 

To say Loki formed a very strong attachment to Heimdall would be an understatement and the older Loki got, the more fascinated with Heimdall they became.

Loki did, however, drift away from Heimdall eventually. As Loki’s rebellious tendencies picked up, often bringing Odin’s anger in their wake, Loki came to a heartbreaking realization that Heimdall would always be a link to Odin. No matter how much they loved the Watcher and no matter how much that love was reciprocated, Heimdall’s loyalty remained with Odin. It seemed almost impossible for the elder God to disobey the All-father and for many, many years, Loki believed it was genuine loyalty. 

They did, however, begin to question that, as the way Heimdall interacted with Loki one-on-one often suggested his views and desires did not align with that of the throne. Loki always questioned why Heimdall would be so loyal to someone he did not seem to believe in. Heimdall would never give Loki those answers, quite possibly because he was not allowed to, but Loki grew frustrated in their attempts to balance their own need to pull out from Odin’s thumb and Heimdall’s sight being the one thing that would always allow Odin to know where the mischief-maker had gone. 

It broke the storyteller’s heart to have to put any distance between themselves and a person they loved and admired so much, but Heimdall’s sight and Odin’s control over him would always act as a direct line to them and as Odin’s treatment of Loki grew more and more severe, Loki didn’t have much of a choice but to pull away.

Developing a method to successfully hide from Heimdall hadn’t been an easy feat and, as far as Loki was aware, they were the only one to ever successfully accomplish it. Something to be proud of, they supposed, but it felt almost like a betrayal to have to resort to such things. As much as they genuinely loved Heimdall, though, they realized that Odin’s control over him would always mean being close to the Watcher would be dangerous.

Loki only prayed that one day it would not be necessary and that Heimdall would understand the precaution, whenever his loyalty to Odin was brought to an end.

In truth, the divide did put a strain on their relationship. They went from close, from Heimdall acting as a sort of guardian and a mentor to the young prince to only interacting when Loki believed it was safe or when their individual duties forced them to. This portion of their relationship often reflected in scenes like the one in the original Thor film, when Thor, Loki, and their friends were attempting to go to Jotunheim. Loki and Heimdall had a rather uncomfortable exchange, one that didn’t seem particularly friendly, but one that also didn’t seem vindictive. It also, if anyone took notice, left Loki looking rather depressed, almost looking and Heimdall for a moment with longing in their eyes.

It was not a separation Loki wanted and, in fact, had a rather negative impact on the prince because of how much they missed Heimdall, but it was something Loki believed necessary to keep themselves safe from their growingly controlling and abusive father. 

Loki still regarded Heimdall as one of the few people they could turn to in a huge pinch, however (as demonstrated by the thread where Loki goes to Heimdall for help after Odin’s kidnapped their children and forced them into various forms of exile and/or prison).

As much as that rift hurt, though, I do believe it was a sort of necessary split for Heimdall and Loki to mature into anything other than the almost familial bond that they had in Loki’s youth, though. The rift allowed Loki and Heimdall to meet again for the first time, in a sense. Not exactly a completely fresh start, but one that allowed Loki to come back to Heimdall on their own terms as a matured adult and a person Heimdall was not 100% familiar with.

They were allowed to relearn one another, develop a new friendship and a new dynamic, and Loki was finally able to not only get the answers they wanted from Heimdall for so long but help Heimdall break the chains that kept him tethered to his captor. 

In Loki’s youth, Loki always saw Heimdall as someone to aspire to be like, to idolize in a way, and turn to when they needed help. In their reunion, Loki came to Heimdall as an equal, someone who no longer looked up to Heimdall, but someone who looked at Heimdall with love, respect, and mutual understanding.

That transition is what I think allowed them to form such a strong, romantic bond, in the end, because their remeeting changed everything for both of them.

At the end of the day, Heimdall has always been someone extremely special to Loki, someone Loki loves endlessly, and someone Loki could never truly think or speak negatively of, but Loki has gone through a lot of shifts over the course of their lives. A kid learning from Heimdall. A “teenager” turning to Heimdall in times of crisis and questioning why Heimdall did so much he didn’t want to do. A young adult who broke their own heart to break off from someone they loved and attached themselves to so heavily. 

When Loki finally came back to Heimdall, a fear definitely existed that Heimdall would be resentful, that he’d be unwilling to let Loki back in, and that he wouldn’t listen to how sorry Loki was, not only for their own actions but for the pain Odin had caused Heimdall for thousands of years. Loki felt a certain pressing weight of guilt for not realizing sooner that Heimdall was, quite literally, Odin’s prisoner, forced to do as he was told.

Heimdall’s understanding of Loki’s position and why they’d done what they’d done came as a surprise but Loki knew it shouldn’t have. That was just Heimdall being Heimdall, but the biggest shock to Loki’s system?

The fact that Heimdall, despite knowing some of the worst things Loki had done, had never given up on them, had never believed them evil or inherently wrong, and still believed them to be a good person capable of great things. 

Loki almost convinced themselves that Heimdall could never think of them in such a manner purely to make their split easier and, really, it was an easy thing to believe given the fact that so many others thought so poor of the mischief-maker. But Heimdall’s resilient belief in Loki and the love the Watcher always seemed to have for his prince? Was likely why Loki so quickly fell for him in turn and why their relationship made a drastic change in such a short amount of time after them reuniting. 

Heimdall was the one to always treat Loki with kindness. Even in their years of not really communicating, Heimdall was always in Loki’s court. We even see examples of this in MCU all the damn time. He never condemns Loki, never speaks poorly of Loki, and even in moments when he’s supposed to stand against Loki, he almost always lets Loki best him in some way so he doesn’t have to fight Loki (like when Loki literally froze him in Thor, for example, or how about the time Heimdall–the man who can see literally everything–lied to Thor about Loki being the only one who knew the passageways that led out of Asgard so Thor would be forced to break Loki out of prison in The Dark World?). 

He even welcomes Loki home in the most cheeky fashion ever when Loki arrived back on Asgard in Ragnarök and the fact that Loki let Heimdall see them coming proves that Loki trusted Heimdall just as much as Heimdall trusted Loki.