The next time that Jane arranged for Darcy to attend some conference with her and forgot to mention it until the last minute, she was definitely not going to go along.

Not at all.

Not even if Jane promised that it would be just the same as going on an awesome vacation, like she had promised two days ago.

This conference was not an awesome vacation.

This conference was possibly the most boring thing that Darcy had ever had the misfortune of enduring - including that hungover afternoon when she had been sprawled out on the couch, channel-hopping and the batteries on the remote had died just as she'd gotten to the shopping channel. Which would not normally have been a problem, even if she was feeling spectacularly lazy (and she had been), but that afternoon, Darcy had learned more ways to describe an ironing board cover than she had ever thought humanly possible.

Ironing board covers were a blast compared to this.

Or so she told the barman in the hotel the conference was being held in, as she railed against the injustice of being misled into the most boring town in the world so that Jane could get her nerd on.

"Oh I don't know," a male voice practically purred next to her at the bar, as the barman edged away to make his escape. "I'm sure we could find something more entertaining than that."

"You did not just try to come on to me by saying you were better than ironing board covers?" Darcy said in disbelief, as she turned to face him.

Maybe she could forgive him for the worst line she'd heard in a while - he was kind of cute, even if his grin was a little...over wide.

"I can assure you that it's true all the same," he answered, glancing around the bar. "And a darn sight more interesting than this place."

He had a point. Jane was still physics-ing it up in the main conference room and the only other person in the bar was a stressed-looking guy in a suit muttering furiously into his phone. Darcy had already decided that he was trying angrily, yet discreetly to switch phone providers. Possibly. Or something. She knew the last time she'd had to call customer support for anything in public, Jane had been totally mortified. Suit-guy had ceased to be entertaining a while ago.

A long while ago.

"Well, O great and mysterious stranger," Darcy was being a tad over-dramatic, but he'd interrupted a particularly good monologue on her part. "Name something around here better than the deadest bar in the country."

The stranger tilted his head to one side slightly, giving the appearance of careful thought. A good half minute passed. Just as Darcy was about to triumphantly exclaim that there was in fact nothing to do in town other than to be all brainy in the conference hall (although that really wasn't something to be triumphant about), her new acquaintance spoke.

"I believe a poster in the lobby mentioned... mini-golf?"

Mini-golf. Well. How about that?

"There's mini-golf here?"

"So I am led to believe."

"I haven't played mini-golf in aaaages! Let's go!"

Darcy hopped off her bar stool, hooked her arm through his and started towards the door before halting abruptly.

"Wait, what's your name?"

"My name? I had wondered when you might get to that." He paused, possibly for effect. "I am Loki."

Darcy blinked, not processing the information for a few moments.

"...Thor's brother, Loki?"

She'd been paying attention when she and Jane had been updated on the recent events in New York.

Loki scowled.

In retrospect, remembering Loki only in reference to his brother, with whom he didn't have quite the best relationship with, was probably what had soured the start of their evening. Or so Darcy mused the next morning in Loki's hotel room.

What did a demi-god escaped from Asgard need with a hotel room anyway?

Other than what they had gotten up to last night anyway. After the mini-golf.

The mini-golf had been fun - more fun than she had expected when Loki had insisted on following through with her spur of the moment decision to take a complete stranger up on his offer. Had it been an offer? That part was fuzzy.

She did, however, have the suspicion that she'd lost only because he must have cheated. There could be no way that her mini-golf prowess could have possibly degraded so much. No way. Darcy couldn't quite complain about Loki's particular choice of victory celebration though. Boy, did he know how to kiss. Kissing at the last hole of the mini-golf had turned into making out in the lift of the hotel and from there had devolved into...well.

It's possible that she was ruined for regular guys now.

Except Loki did not appear to still be in his hotel room this morning. Admittedly, it was pretty late (and she'd missed breakfast and oh, oops, that talk by Dr Stuffy McBoring...) so she hadn't expected him to still be asleep. Not really. But not in the room at all?

Filed under "lame as" and cross-referenced with "typical idiot male".

Grumbling to herself, Darcy rolled out of bed and shuffled towards the bathroom.

Then shuffled back to see what had half caught her eye on the night-stand.

It was a note. My dear Darcy,
Regrettably, I've been called away - seems that some people don't look on one too favourably when one skips out of his prison for a few hours!
Send my regards to my brother and Dr Foster.
Loki

She could almost see the self-satisfied smirk emanating from the page. It practically beamed out of every word. Enough, at least, to make Darcy glare at the ceiling and side-eye seriously hard in the direction she thought Asgard might be in. Even if she had aimed wrong, she was sure he'd get the picture if he could see her. Or something. It was too early.

With that done, Darcy resumed her journey towards the bathroom. A mid-morning bubble bath that might happen to make her miss Dr Boring McStuffyson's second presentation was very much in order.