"Hello."
Darcy's glare could cut glass and the familiar feel of it makes Loki smile down at her while he approaches the counter.
"Who the fuck told you I work here?" she hisses.
She's wearing a red and yellow uniform, with a hairnet and gloves for hygiene purposes. Loki's eyes linger on her chest where her nametag reads Penny, a Hello Kitty sticker beside it.
"Hi, Penny," he murmurs, and then he looks up at the menu. He makes a show of choosing something and his eyebrows lift. "A Malibu Bandit burger, please."
Darcy just stares at him blankly and he leans forward.
"Aren't you going to ask me if I want fries with that?"
"You didn't answer my question."
Loki just nods at her little computer. "I am hungry. I have money."
"I don't care."
"Then I want to speak to the manager."
"I am the manager," Darcy retorts immediately. "We're short-staffed tonight so I'm on the register."
She stares Loki down for another ten seconds before she adds up his order and holds out her hand. He deposits a crisp hundred dollar bill and Darcy blinks at it, disgusted.
"Keep the change."
Instead of doing that, she shoves the change into an animal shelter donation box and turns her back on him, getting his order ready. While he waits, Darcy mutters under her breath before shoving the tray toward him.
"You're not going to ask what I'm doing here?"
"Nope."
"This is a quaint establishment –"
"I'm working," Darcy snaps, and her face slackens with resignation. "Just leave me alone."
He eats the burger in one of the booths, his eyes never leaving Darcy at the register. She stares straight ahead. It's a quiet night.
When he finishes his dinner, Loki puts everything away in its correct place to save Darcy or anyone else doing it. She doesn't seem affected at all by this, and Loki frowns a little at her. She's determined to win her staring contest with the wall.
Her persistence is impressive.
He goes up to the counter again and Darcy's eyes snap up to his.
"Now what is it?"
"Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to get to Midgard in the first place? Even finding you was a terrible affair –"
"I didn't ask you to do that."
Her lack of sympathy only makes him want her more, and Loki's eyes dip to her tag once more.
"When do you leave tonight, Penny?"
"Midnight."
That was thirty minutes from now. Loki looks at the gap in her front teeth, and he remembers running his tongue along it once.
He licks his lips but Darcy's not having it. She rolls her eyes, turning away from the register and moving toward the back where the deep fryer sits.
Loki waits for her outback and she appears in different clothes but she vaguely smells of French fries just the same. Her hair is down and whipping in the night air. Loki pushes off from the wall to follow her.
"I was wondering how someone like you ended up in a place like this."
He makes the mistake of touching her arm and she whips around, her tazer aloft. He's suddenly on the ground and shuddering with the shocks while Darcy breathes heavily above him.
He gives a groan and Darcy pulls back, her eyes wild.
"So that's what that feels like," Loki grunts, and he winces. "I always thought my brother was melodramatic."
"There's more where that came from," Darcy hisses. "Stop following me. I don't talk to ghosts."
She stalks off toward her beaten up Camry and unlocks it. By the time she opens the front door to climb inside, Loki's on his feet and brushing dirt off his black suit.
"Darcy, I'm here to apologise."
"Jesus," she hisses, rolling her eyes. "I'm sorry, too. Sorry I ever met you."
There are angry tears in her eyes and she gets into her car, slamming the door. Loki watches her reverse and then turn toward the road to leave.
She pauses, and then closes her eyes. Loki watches her put her forehead against the steering wheel and sigh before she leans toward the passenger door and open it.
Loki just stares at her. She gives him a withering look.
"Aren't you coming, asshole?"
He chuckles, shaking his head.
"Sure."
He steps toward the car and gets into the passenger's seat, closing the door. He glances around and sees food wrappers and papers in the front and back. Wherever there is room there are stacks of equations.
"This is disgusting."
"Shut up, it's my car," Darcy retorts.
She speeds off quicker than Loki expects and he remembers the seatbelt, carefully pulling it on. They drive in silence for a few minutes.
What surprises Loki is how pleasant their quiet companionship is. He expected tense, terse little moments. He hadn't thought this far.
"Penny? Really?"
Darcy rolls her eyes. "I lost my badge, probably at the lab."
He had the vague idea that Darcy was still working with Jane. Every once in a while when Loki would pop into Midgard he'd check on her and see she was more or less the same.
There was something assuring about that.
"I got the job to cover bills. The internship still doesn't pay," she adds. Then she shakes her head. "But you probably already know that. All your fucking spying."
"So antagonistic," he teases, and Darcy smirks. It's barely there but Loki always looks for it, so it's like a shiny little prize for him every time he manages to make it happen.
"Whatever. You're so obvious."
"And you're not?" he retorts.
She blushes, readjusting her hands on the steering wheel. He's referring to her little dances she does around her apartment, like there's an audience.
He doesn't watch her when he's naked. At least, he hasn't meant to do that lately. She sometimes puts on some music and swivels around, like she's putting on a show.
He wonders how often she's done that when he wasn't watching.
"I thought you were dead," Darcy whispers. "We all did."
Loki blinks, glancing out the window at the lights along the road. He knows she's driving back to her place.
"And did you mourn with my dear brother?"
When he glances back at her, he doesn't expect her to already be crying. She's furious, tears spilling over as she drives on.
"Darcy –"
"You know you're a secret, like I'm your secret," she hisses. She sniffles. "But it still hurt. And Thor went through hell because of that."
They fall silent and Loki welcomes it. He doesn't know how to make her see it from his perspective. Sometimes he sees glimpses of his old self, the Loki who used to believe he belonged in Asgard, the one who thought he was Odin's second son.
"You're worthless, Loki," she mutters. "As in, you mean nothing to me. How can you? Because that would mean I knew you."
The first time they slept together was shortly after The Destroyer, and the only excuse Loki could give at the time was that he felt alone and Darcy was there, and emotions were high.
Not that he'd ever admit it to her.
"I'm sorry I ever knew you, too, Darcy," he murmurs, forcing a smile like he's enjoying her misery.
She narrows her teary eyes at him for a second before returning to the road.
There's another ten minutes of silence and then they're pulling up at a trailer park. Darcy's place has a wind chime and a plastic sunflower at its front step.
Darcy is letting her emotions fester. She won't slap him like Jane did – instead, she might hit him with her tazer again and call it a night.
It must mean something that she drove them both back to her place. He follows her along the short path to the front door and they both slip inside.
It's cramped. Loki's remembers it from his checking in on Darcy, but those visions don't do it justice.
"How did you know I was watching?"
"You were in my mirror once," Darcy murmurs.
There's a small kitchen island and she grabs a glass and fills it with water from the faucet and takes a steady gulp, her eyes never leaving him.
"You let your guard down."
Loki makes a face at that.
"I doubt it."
"Is it like when you were inside me the last time?" Darcy elaborates, and Loki feels his stomach flip. "You get this look on your face like you're dreaming –"
"Stop it."
He snaps without thinking, and he's given himself away. Darcy looks triumphant in the low light.
"And you think you're the powerful one."
"What about you? Crying over the God of Mischief?"
Her lips quirk because she's seen the chink in his armor.
"What did you call it, a severe lapse in your judgement? Didn't that lapse last six months?"
Loki glares at her. "And what's your excuse? Are your standards for a lover really so low?"
She just drains her glass, smirking because she knows she's won. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and Loki feels that lingering arousal he can never shake.
Something about her being improper all the time turns him on.
He grabs at her because he's weak. She just enough for him to bend to her will, she's just enough to make his blood run hot.
And Loki thought he was meant to be the bad guy.
He has her by the neck and pulls her into a rough kiss. He thinks about snapping her neck and tossing her body in front of Selvig and Jane. He pictures Thor's fury.
He would only be free when Darcy was cold in his arms. She's so warm now, his tongue in her mouth and swallowing her moans.
"Are you so worked up by a kiss?" he sneers and Darcy bites him for it.
She doesn't draw blood. He hopes she will at some point. His hands grab at her front, squeezing her breasts and rear end. She's the same small, soft shape.
She tastes the same, too. She doesn't resist him at all, just presses her nails into his jacket. His leg goes between her thighs and Darcy moans again, right against his lips.
"You just want me, is that it?" he mutters. He tries to sound impatient, disgusted by her.
He isn't fooling her, because he's hard against her hand when she palms his cock. He turns her in his arms and pushes her to the floor.
He'll do it here because he can't stand the idea as something so boring and obvious as a bed. There first time was in the middle of the desert and he knew then that Darcy was exactly like him in that respect – nothing needed to be just right.
Nothing had to be tender.
Darcy fumbles with her pants, kicking off shoes and socks and pulling down her jeans and underwear. Loki's eyes fall to her cunt and he sees she's a little wet already. He pushes up her shirt and bites along her bare stomach, reaching the apex of her thighs.
"I have to do everything, don't I?" he murmurs, and then he laves all over her with his tongue, making her whimper.
He nips at her, pulls at her lips with his own. He only bumps her clit occasionally with his nose and she can't keep still. She's impatient, her hand reaching to guide his head where she needs him.
"If you stop squirming, maybe I'll help you."
She huffs. "Loki."
It's her version of begging and he licks along her slit, stroking deep inside her while her chest heaves. He finally sucks at her clit and she gnaws at her lip, grunting as she comes.
"Fuck."
He pulls back, wiping his mouth. He'll smell her for hours if he's lucky. His chest feels tight and he hates it, knowing he'll miss her.
He uses his magic for the first time in over an hour, his clothes disappearing instantly. Darcy's face changes, like she's seeing him for the first time. The intimacy of her look is frightening, and Loki grabs at her, pushing her legs apart.
When he shoves inside her she gasps, and he bites back his moan. She's exactly how he remembered, and yet memories never sufficed. She's warm and silky, and so inviting. She draws him impossibly closer to her.
He thinks about grabbing her by the neck again but instead he presses his hand onto her face, turning her head into the carpet and pinning her there.
He ruts against her over and over, never missing a stroke. She'll most likely be sore tomorrow, and he wants that, not because he wants to hurt her but because he wants her to remember him between her legs.
He can hear her heavy breathing, and he can feel how wet she is. The rougher he is, the more out of control she becomes, too, as if she is possessed with lust.
She comes a second time, clenching around him and her breath is hot against his hand. He lasts only three more thrusts, spilling inside her.
He falls on top of her, his hand leaving her face to fall beside her head, fingers threading through her hair. They pant together, a sticky mess between them.
To his utter surprise, one little hand comes up to touch his face, to run a thumb along his bottom lip. He nips at it but Darcy doesn't relent.
She's too much. He pulls out of her, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling.
There comes a horrifying moment when he feels a sob bubble up but he just gives a short gasp instead, swallowing hard a second later.
But she sees it, and just strokes his hair. He glances at her, their eyes meeting. There are marks on her face from his hand and he catches his breath at the feeling that stays in his chest, threatening to suffocate him.
"It means nothing, darling, I know," he murmurs.
He looks up at the ceiling again but doesn't fight her soothing touch. He wraps one arm around her waist and pulls her closer, their naked chests pressed together.