AN: Hi!

Okay, so this is another ficlet for Anja/Loki. Why? Because I can. End of story. I just love seeing them together when they're in Asgard. *shrugs*

This probably won't be nearly as mature as the last ficlet I wrote for these two, but you never know. Anja and Loki tend to take on a life of their own when I'm writing for them.

Please review! I Love hearing what my readers think as you are all my main source of support for writing. :)

"Lovers forever, face to face

My city or mountains

Stay with me stay

I need you to love me; I need you today

Give to me your leather

Take from me my lace"

~ 'Leather and Lace' by Stevie Nicks

The morning sun stretched across the golden rooftops of Asgard as it broke the edge of the horizon. The smell of fresh baked bread was in the air, a testament to the working class people of the golden city. Most of the nobility was still abed, all but one dark prince that sat in the gardens, meditating as the sun rose higher in the sky.

This was Loki's haven, a place away from the expectations of the palace as well as his older brother's constant pestering when all Loki wanted to do was think. He sat cross-legged in the grass, dark lashes splaying over his cheekbones as he focused on honing his most basic abilities.

That was what she had taught him; that his craft was not just a science, but an art.

He thought of Anja frequently, never a day going by that he did not see her shining silver eyes in his mind's eye, or remember her sweet voice telling him that she was his. He missed her greatly. It had been a full six months since she had left with the Academy once more, and he had so often found himself hoping that she would show up and see him.

With a sigh, Loki rose from his place in the grass. Often when Anja would pop up into his thoughts while he was meditating, any attempt at regaining focus was folly. He preferred to read in the mornings anyhow…

*o*O*o*

Anja's home realm of Vanaheim stretched out before the silver-eyed girl as she stepped from the path the Bifrost had made when it touched down. Closing her eyes briefly, Anja took in the familiar scent of damp sea air. It was something that would always make her think of her home no matter where she was.

The Academy had granted her permission to go home for a week. Her father had wished to see her and in all truthfulness, she had wished to see him. Her younger sisters, Allana and Robyn, had seemed intent on seeing her after so long as well. Anja had almost forgotten how much she loved her home realm. Her eyes opened slowly as the realization that she was home sank in. Her fur-lined cloak billowed about her as a sharp bout of wind tore at her long hair.

The waters of the vast oceans that took up the majority of the realm stretched before her, deep and a dark green in color under the gray of the early morning sky. From her place atop the jagged cliffs, she could make out the vague outline of the Great Library against the sky, the gray flagstones blending in easily with the seemingly constant fog that sat around the swirling cauldron of emerald green waters.

As she gazed down into the depths of the ocean, her heart beat a little faster as she thought of him…

*o*O*o*

"Oh, Anja. Please, sit down, Sweetling."

Anja looked up from the stack of books she was carrying at the sound of her father's voice. Her silver eyes flashed a bit as the older man tried to take the stack of books from her. She had been in Vanaheim for two days now, and she had been placing a few books back to their original places.

"Father, I told you. I quite enjoy handling the books. I always have."

Anja's father, Bran, was an elderly man with a receding hairline of white hair. His health had always been a concern of Anja's and today was no different. "Aye, Anja, but I wish you would take a break. I know not what they make you do at that school, but you look tired."

Anja smiled slightly, allowing her father to take the books from her and begin to place them systematically upon the shelf. She leaned against one of the shelves, listening to him prattle on about the unfairness of never getting to see her and that he would have fought against the decision that the court of Odin had made about her schooling had he been in Asgard to do so.

She smiled fondly at her father, turning to gaze at a shelf of books strictly about a place called Midgard. She had not been to that realm yet, but she knew she was scheduled for a visit sometime in the near future with the Academy. That had her very excited. She had read once that the Midgardians had once called her people gods. She wished to see exactly how the people of Midgard thought and experience their culture if she ever got the chance.

Then, something caught Anja's attention that she would never have expected, not in a thousand years. From her peripheral vision, she could make out a dark head and a pale face cutting through the rows of shelves, slipping into shadow once more by the time she had realized who it was. She turned back to her father, swallowing hard as her heart rate increased. What did Loki want here?

Then she remembered that she was in the Great Library, a place Loki had expressed his fondness for during her time with him back in Asgard. She steeled her nerves, turning to her father as she felt heat touch her cheeks with the rush of blood that had flooded them at the thought of Loki. Here. In her home.

"Father, I shall be just down the hall should you need me," she said quietly as she planted a small kiss on his cheek.

Bran nodded, removing one book from the top shelf and replacing it after he had dusted it a bit. "Promise me you shall rest though, Anja. I worry for your health."

Rest? With Loki around? That was a very steep expectation, even if her father did not know he was placing it on her. She smiled at him again before turning to the direction that she had seen Loki gliding towards. Something told her he would be in the science section…

Anja left the room that her father had been in, heading to the great area that housed the science books as well as the great observatory that had been installed after the AllFather's victory in the Great War. She was very near the entrance to the observatory when a cool hand wrapped gently around her wrist. She let out a gasp in surprise, turning fully to meet Loki's emerald gaze.

"Anja?" he said, eyes glittering in the morning light that filtered down to them from the skylights several stories above them. He smiled, a shy, loving grin that he had only shown her once. He was dressed in a tunic of black and green leather, obviously his traveller's garb. No one would suspect that he was a prince should they happen to come across him.

She grinned back, a toothy smile flashing across her own face. "My Prince," she said, happiness inflected in every syllable. "I did not expect to see you here."

He let out a light huff of a laugh as he brought her knuckles up to brush his lips across. "And nor did I expect to come across such a beauty." He waggled his eyebrows at her as he looked down at her lovingly. "How are you?"

"Wonderful, to be truthful, Loki." She looked around for a brief moment before lacing her fingers with his and walking him back into the shelter of a few shelves. The last thing she needed was her sisters seeing her with him… or worse, her father. She had not told anyone of her relationship with the dark prince. Only Fandral knew the very basics of the two's relationship for she had never told the warrior explicitly of their meetings in the gardens of Asgard. "But I am even better now. What are you doing here?"

"I was here for research purposes. My father wanted me to read up in a certain form of battle strategy. He claims that I have more of a knack for strategy than Thor, though I suspect he is still trying to make me feel better since Thor has been named the heir to the throne." The slightest bit of bitterness was etched in his tone, but he smiled down at her, his fingers brushing her cheek in a loving caress. "Why did you not tell me you would be home?" he said quietly, trying to distract her from the look that had flitted across her gaze when he had spoken of his brother in such a way.

She shrugged, biting her lower lip as she looked away from him. His long fingers wrapped around her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze gently when she did not answer him. "Anja, I wish to know when you have time away from your studies."

"I needed time with my family, Loki. Surely you can understand that." Her intense gaze did not waver as she looked at him and an overwhelming sense of love consumed him. She was as feisty as ever, independent and strong-willed. There were so few women in Asgard that treated him in such a way, and he knew that her way of acting had been one of the first things that had drawn him to her. With her, he was not the younger prince of Asgard, but a man. He liked that. A lot.

"Well then," he said quietly as he stepped even closer her, a playful glint in his eye. "I suppose I shall just…" As he trailed off, he brought his lips dangerously close to her own, his breath ghosting cross her lips in a torturous fashion. So close, yet so far from what he knew she needed from him. He smirked as she closed her eyes and he finished his sentence. "…let you get back to your family matters then."

Her silver eyes snapped open as he withdrew from her, a smile stretched across the marble planes of his alabaster face. She tilted her head to the left, smiling playfully at him. Two could play this game…

"Perhaps I shall," she said quietly. "I have missed my sisters an awful lot. And my father could really use my help."

At that, something had shifted in Loki's gaze and it stopped Anja in her tracks as she took him in. "Your father? He is nearby?"

Where in Valhalla was he going with this? Slowly, she nodded.

A broad grin stretched across Loki's features now. "Well then, I think I shall go meet him. I have often wanted to meet with the Keeper of the Books." At his words, Anja's eyes had gone wide, disbelief etched in her gaze. He knew what was going through her mind. In this scenario it was not entirely unobvious. Of course she would be uncomfortable allowing her father to meet with the man that had bedded her several times already. "Anja, I wish to meet your family."

She stared at him wide-eyed for another three seconds before scratching her nose slightly, eyes closing as she thought through what he was saying. "Why?" That was all she could come up with.

He shrugged again. "We are a married couple in all but name, My Love," he whispered. "And even that will be remedied soon enough if I have my way." His gaze burned into her and she shuddered. But it was not fear. It was desire that was already humming through her, the burning need to be alone with him already prominent in the back of her mind.

"Very well," she acquiesced when his gaze did not falter. "But do try to behave yourself. I wouldn't want my own father to be upset should he learn his daughter has been deflowered by a Prince of Asgard."

Loki laughed out right at that, taking her hand in his and placing an open mouth kiss across the knuckles of her index and middle fingers. She let out a gasp at the warm feel of his mouth on her hand, meeting the emerald of his eyes that had not left her face as he had kissed her. "My Lady, have you ever known me to be less than civil?"

"I can think of a few times that stick out rather prominently in my mind, My Prince," she quipped, smiling playfully again as she lowered her hand from his grip.

"And I also recall you not minding one bit," he said as he tucked her arm in his. "Come. I wish to meet your father."

With a sigh, Anja nodded, stepping out of the vast aisles of books and making her way down the hall with Loki back to where her father had been just a half hour before.

Yeah, so this will be mainly fluff that I write for when the inspiration hits. To be honest, I love these shorter stories with these two. It feels a lot more carefree and I have a blast writing the fluffier side of their relationship when they aren't faced with Loki's darker side. :P

Next chapter is going to be fun, that's all I'm going to say ;)

Review?

~Sirius