T H E F I R S T

The first time he saw her, she was standing across the ballroom, eyes trailing after a couple elegantly crossing the dance floor. He would later learn that the couple was comprised of her twin brother and a lady of Odin's court--he could not be bothered to remember her name--that would be promptly dismissed the following day.

She had been wearing a red dress--a sparkly belt around her waist that had to be at least three inches wide provided the only embellishment. It tied behind her neck, and reached the floor. Her toes were visible beneath the edge of the fabric, and a shimmering red heel could be seen when she lifted the folds of her dress to make walking easier.

Thor had had an obvious crush on her from the moment that he saw her. While she was beautiful--gorgeous, certainly. The most beautiful girl in the room that night, and perhaps the most beautiful girl that he had ever laid eyes on--Loki doubted that Thor's crush had much to do with her beauty.

The sword she had worn strapped to her back probably had more of an effect on his brother than anything else.

She looked up to meet Loki's eyes only once that night. Hers were sparkling blue, bluer than the Asgardian sky on the best day of the year. Bluer than anything he had ever seen. A corner of her mouth tilted up in surprise--was she not accustomed to being stared at? Given her looks--aside from her beauty, her clothes spoke of wealth and the sword strapped to her back labeled her as one of the few female warriors in the room--this was not a girl who could escape anyone's eyes.

Her gaze drifted back to the couple she had been watching. Their state was obviously of import to her, but she bore enough of a resemblance to the boy whom she was watching that he could guess that they were related. He wondered what she thought of his dancing partner. He wondered how she felt about being very clearly abandoned by her relative.

He wondered what her sense of humor was like.

Forget the side of caution. A smirk fought it's way onto his face, and as soon as she looked back at him, he snapped his fingers.

The couple, now in the middle of the dance floor, found themselves glued to the floor.

And the boy, clearly aware of what was happening, stopped in his tracks. His eyes flew to the girl, an eyebrow raised, a smirk of his own developing on his face. This was an "Are you serious?" expression if the Asgardian had ever seen one. The girl he was dancing with was not so lucky--she was not expecting anything, and kept moving. And fell.

Flat on the floor.

Silence spread throughout the room. It hit like a wave, traveling from the center of the circle that had crowded around them and back. Other ball-goers had begun to look around, trying to figure out what had caused the sudden change in atmosphere.

There was a shuffling behind Loki--Thor, he thought, rolling his eyes and trying to hide a groan. He slid his gaze back to the girl.

A small smile on her face, she raised a glass that he hadn't realized she was holding roughly to her shoulder. After tipping it towards him a fraction of an inch, and widening her smile to level: dazzling, she chugged it's contents and shouted: "Another!"

Loki, too, tipped his head back and laughed. By the time Thor reached his side, the male of the dancers had vanished from the center of the dance floor, and the girl was gone from where she had been standing.

"Are you serious, Loki? Why would you--?" a voice whisper-yelled in his ear. Had it been anyone else, he would've sent them flying back into the stairwell behind him. His brother's presence, however, was a significant one--he could feel it, the calm push and pull of his brother.

"What makes you think that I would do something so... immature?"

He could feel his brother's eyeroll. There was a pause as they both looked towards where the girl was being helped from the floor by a pair of guards.

"I know it was you. And it was not funny."

Loki only allowed himself to smile once his brother had disappeared back into the crowd to distract their father's subjects from the prank. (They didn't know it was a prank, so he couldn't really call it that, could he?)

Of course Thor knew it was him. And many (many, many, many) years later, he would find it very funny.