Jane tossed and turned in her bed, trying to find a comfortable position. It was a hot and stormy night, and it didn't help that every strike of lightning and thunder not only triggered her natural dislike of shocks, but each time she couldn't help eagerly looking around, hoping that Thor had returned. Sighing, she threw off the bedcovers and sat up, rubbing her face and putting a hand through her matted hair.

There was a figure in the darkness at the foot of her bed. Her heart leapt as she pushed herself up, but the next crackle of lightning revealed that it was not Thor. Rather a thinner man, dressed in green, with gold embellishments and a golden trident, looking at her with eyes of a tiger.

"Who- who are you?"

"I am Loki, Ruler of Asgard. You knew my brother, Thor."

Jane smiled, relieved. "Oh! Well, any friend of Thor's is a friend of mine," she said, tiny laughs embellishing her words.

Loki cocked his head. "Are those the words of a virtuous woman?"

The smile melted from Jane's face. That was an odd response. Her breathing quickened as she looked at him warily.

Loki started pacing slowly around the room. "He talked so highly of you. I just had to come and see you." He had a smiling and jovial manner, but there was something cold about his eyes. Jane instinctively pulled the bedsheets over her again, covering her nightie from his gaze. She was still sitting up on her bed.

"Does he know you're here?" she asked, a quaver in her voice. A moment later she regretted asking that, as it revealed that she was scared of him. But it's not as if she could hide it well, anyway.

"Oh yes," replied Loki emphatically. "I told him I would see you."

Jane's face dropped and tears formed in her eyes as the pain of Thor not wanting to see her hit her like a ton of bricks. If Loki could come, then logically Thor could also visit if he wanted to. "I-I see," she said softly, now oblivious to Loki's threat.

Loki narrowed his eyes, not liking the lack of attention. "You see, my brother was a bit of a womanizer, and he spoke very highly of you, mortal. You should be quite flattered. And he basically invited me to come here."

"What?" Jane gasped. "N-no, I don't-"

"Would you waste my time in coming here?" Loki asked testily.

"Please, I'm so sorry, but there's some mistake. I really didn't mean to-"

"You mortals need to learn your place," said Loki, a hard edge to his voice, as he advanced towards her, stopping at the side of her bed.

Jane was beside herself. "N-no!" she begged, shaking her head, clasping her bed covers tighter.

"Would you refuse a god?" asked Loki seriously, pressuring her, fully knowing she was against it.

Jane whimpered, not knowing what to do. She tensed as Loki pulled the bedcovers away from her, scared stiff.

Loki eyed her up and down. "You are very beautiful," he said, as he reached out to touch her arm. Jane reacted as if his hands were hot coals, and pulled away, which angered Loki. With a shout, he roughly pushed her down to the bed. Frantic, she started kicking and screaming and only stopped when she realised her hands and head were pinned by Loki's golden trident that was resting on her lengthways.

"Please. I didn't mean to disrespect your race, but I know that Thor wouldn't be happy if this occurred, even if I was a one-off to him. I don't want him to hurt you-"

"Thor's dead!" snapped Loki. "He won't be coming for you," he added with a flourish and a cruel smile.

Jane gasped. She could hardly breathe from the news. Tears flowed freely down her face. But she was furious now, as well – despite her natural tendency to think well of others, her instincts told her that Loki was fully an enemy of Thor. For all she knew, he could have caused Thor's death. And now, she'd do anything in her power to avenge him.

Loki raised the sceptre and two golden beams of light tied her hands to the bed head. Loki looked down at her triumphantly.

Jane was enraged. At the loss of her love, her self-preservation instincts went out the window. "Is this how you bed all your women?"

Loki huffed, a reaction too intense to be impartial. "There are thousands of women who would consider this an honour."

Jane let out a small puff of air and a muted chuckle, rolling her eyes, showing her disbelief. Loki's face showed no sign of humour at her insolence. Jane's face only showed more determination as she enraged the beast.

A corner of Loki's mouth curled up for a split second as he savoured going in for the kill. "I was going to be gentle with you. But now I think it better that you are degraded and humiliated. You will be controlled to do my every whim and beg for more!" He raised his sceptre over her heart.

"You think controlling my body is controlling me? You don't have the power to control me," she spat. She saw the vein in the middle of his forehead start to throb. She may not have wanted to f*ck him, but mind-f*ck was definitely on the menu.

Loki let out a long "ooh" and shook his head, warning her she had gone too far. "You would do better to remain silent and obedient, girl. Now I will not control your body – you will have to control yourself to do my every whim. Else I will torture your precious Dr. Selvig and your stupid friend," he threatened through gritted teeth.

Jane was not quashed in the slightest. "How ironic that you think that you are superior to me by using the bonds I have with my friends to control me – bonds that you could never have yourself," she snarled.

Loki looked undone for a second as her ferocious words hit a deep wound in him. He had always felt like an outsider, and combined with always wanting to be included, it was a subtly cruel upbringing. Like looking through a glass window, never being able to reach it. But back to her - it was like she was temporarily insane, continually goading him. And even worse, she would consider it a victory if he had to resort to violence to subdue her rather than through psychology. He gritted his teeth in frustration, disbelief on his face that a mortal could affect him so.

Jane knew she had gotten to him, and the feeling was addictive. "Perhaps you are out of your depth."

He was looking at her incredulously, and his anger showed that she was beyond the point of no return. Oh well, she was going to make her death as enjoyable as possible. She wasn't going to allow him to control her, and she knew that infuriated him.

"What exactly do you want?" she demanded, calling him out on his silence.

"I deserve complete domination of everything my idiotic brother had – no matter how insignificant!" he spat.

"Oooh, yes, he told me about you," Jane taunted. "And this was exactly the kind of barbaric and uncouth thing you would try to do." Well, that wasn't true at all, but hit 'em where it hurts. She could see that he prided himself on being above his peers. Jane had always been a bad liar, and she expected his wrath for trying to fool him.

"What else did my brother say?" Loki said instinctively, rattled from her words.

In a flash, she saw him in all his wretchedness, his loneliness. Despite her better judgment, she relented.

"Actually, I lied. He never said that."

Loki's eyes bugged out, and his mouth fell partially open. He looked like he was in a state of shock – whether from falling from Jane's lie, or the fact she'd admit it, she didn't know.

She sensed his conundrum. "You can trust me."

"What?"

"You can trust me," she said softly. "I won't be giving you my body, but I want to be your friend."

He stood aback for a second and observed her reactions closely. "Friend? And what would I gain from having a stupid mortal as a friend?"

"Do I look stupid?" she replied, gazing strongly back at him, ignoring the fact her hands were tied, she was in her nightgown and her face was probably all blotchy from the tears.

Loki's eyebrow raised and his forehead creased as a result, her condition obviously not escaping his notice.

He looked like he had no idea how to reply, so she continued.

"You'd gain a friend. A real friend. Someone who shares your sorrows and your happiness. Someone who doesn't want anything in return." Eh, sometimes she was too compassionate for her own good. But she didn't have anything to lose at this point.

He was surveying her, looking for any signs of fallacy.

"I have decided to suspend my judgment," he commanded, and with a flourish of his cape, left her room. The golden bonds disappeared.

He'd looked confused and exhausted – she didn't know whether she had truly reached him, but she was glad for the momentary reprieve.

END

(A/N I think I'd end it here because I wanted Jane to have gotten to Loki – and talking him out of something like this is quite a feat! So it's meant to end here... but next chapter is WAFFy rather out-of-character ThorxJane epilogue – read on if you want that. Why am I such a sucker for happy endings? xD )