The next morning, at work, Darcy was standing on a chair to hang a poster on the wall of their office. Jane had never let her hang it up in the astrophysics department, and she'd been eagerly awaiting an opportunity. Loki looked over with curiosity as she climbed down and he saw that it was a large and rather blurry image of a flying saucer and the words ''I WANT TO BELIEVE''. He gave her a crooked look. ''Surely you can't be serious.''
''I am serious, and don't call me Shirley!'' she replied, then cackled with laughter. ''Come on, you walked right into that one!'' She doubted that he got the reference, somehow he didn't seem like the type of guy who would watch Airplane! She would have to fix that. Left to his own devices Loki watched depressing documentaries about things like dolphins and global warming and the Chinese oppression of Tibet. He seemed fascinated by the terrible things that humans did to each other and to the planet, and Darcy wanted him to spend more time appreciating the subtle beauty that humans could create. Things like Monty Python or Animal House.
''You're giddy,'' he noted.
''I'm just happy is all.'' Darcy unwrapped a Twix and then bit into it.
''High on sugar, you mean,'' corrected Loki, though it was nice to see her smiling so much.
''The sugar might be a very small contributing factor,'' she admitted.
''Put it in the report.''
''Ha! You know, the only think I dislike about this gig is the paperwork,'' Darcy related, chewing thoughtfully. ''Writing the reports, filing the reports...I still don't get why they need so many hard copies of everything.''
''In case of a massive network failure, or if an electromagnetic pulse weapon is deployed. And I thought that you were a writer,'' he countered, folding his hands.
''I am. But I write erotic fiction. Those reports aren't exactly sexy.''
Loki contemplated this. ''Well, you could spice them up a bit,'' he suggested. ''Use some inventive language.'' Fury would surely love that, he reckoned.
''Hmm...'' Darcy seemed doubtful but shrugged. ''Ok, I'll give it a try.''
''And who's to say our assignments won't be...titillating. The last one certainly was.''
''True,'' she sighed, tossing the wrapper into a nearby wastebasket. ''But you know what they say, lightning never strikes twice.''
''Now that's just a lie.''
''Oh, yeah. Well, we might as well see what we've got.'' She sat down in her chair and took a sip of coffee.
''There are three files here,'' Loki said, pulling a small stack of folders from his desk. ''One of them is marked 'priority urgent' so I suppose we ought to look at that one first.'' He flipped it open, quickly scanned over the page, then frowned and rolled his eyes, handing it over to Darcy. ''What a bore.''
''You don't know that.'' She accepted it from him and then read the case summary herself. ''Ok, this is really boring,'' she conceded. ''Must be a slow week if this is urgent priority.''
The case in question involved a restaurant, of all things, in a small Maine town. Certain of the staff had experienced strange injuries. ''Hey, wait, this is interesting,'' Darcy trailed her finger down the page. ''Two cooks developed radiation burns while working there. They must have been using one hell of an oven...and then a server suffered acute psychosis and needed to be temporarily committed.'' She looked over at Loki. ''Maybe they were exposed to some sort of toxin? Definitely could be a threat to the general population. Especially at a restaurant, eww.''
Loki didn't seem overly impressed. ''Perhaps this is a matter for the Health Department, then?''
''Well, duh, they were already there, they passed it up to us. The investigation was 'inconclusive' but they felt that it needed another look.''
''Someone isn't doing their job, then,'' he scoffed dismissively.
''That's why we're here,'' Darcy said with a glowing smile, closing the folder.
When they returned home that night, Loki sat on the couch with his tablet, searching for images of Maine. He'd never been there before, and he wanted to know what he was getting into. Something about the rocky coastline and the ocean unsettled him, though apparently many people seemed to find it beautiful. ''I don't want to go there,'' he announced to Darcy, who was rubbing lotion onto her arms. ''Too much seafood.'' He eyed her approvingly; she was dressed in black yoga pants and a tank top that displayed her curvy figure.
She gave him an odd look and set the bottle of lotion down on the table. ''What? Are you allergic to shellfish or something? Do Frost Giants even have allergies?''
''I don't like them,'' he mumbled quietly.
''What?''
Loki cleared his throat. ''I don't like them.''
''You don't like shellfish?'' Darcy was trying to make sense of this new development. ''Like crabs and shrimps and lobsters?''
He nodded and made a disgusted face.
''Why?''
''I just don't. They're bizarre looking. Freakish, dirty, beady-eyed sea insects.''
Her face split into a wide grin. ''You're afraid of crustaceans. That is awesome.''
''I'm not. They're just revolting. With their...antennae...''
She laughed loudly. ''Have you seen yourself in that dumb helmet of yours? You look like you've got antennas too.''
''Those are horns,'' Loki corrected, somewhat defensively. ''And you've never seen me in it.''
''Oh, horns, how manly and virile.'' Darcy pretended to swoon. ''And yes, I have, by the way.''
''When?''
''I've googled you.''
''Yes, you've certainly done that.''
She rolled her eyes. ''I mean, I looked for pictures of you on the internet.''
''I know what it means. I was being cheeky.''
''Still, it's a dumb helmet,'' she said decisively. Darcy didn't completely feel that way, yet she wanted to make a point. ''And you shouldn't be hating on lobsters and stuff, they're really good.''
''I'm tired of talking about this,'' Loki announced, putting the tablet aside and motioning her over. She smirked and climbed onto the couch so that she was facing him, straddling his lap. ''Admit it,'' she said, stroking a finger along his neck, ''you're secretly excited.''
''Oh, I am definitely excited, but not about Maine.'' He bucked against her suggestively. ''Though I'll admit, I don't mind your...giddiness about it. You're quite pretty when you're happy.'' Loki wondered if he wasn't going a little mad recently, with all of this sentimental drivel that seemed to be pouring out of him unchecked. He decided that he would have to keep an eye on that particular tendency.
''Aww, thank you. Well, that's not the only reason I'm happy,'' Darcy said, leaning closer. The flowery smell of her lotion made him pleasantly dizzy, it mixed with the heat of her skin and created an intoxicating scent that was uniquely her, and quite the aphrodisiac.
He smiled. ''It's not?''
''No. I'm starting a new story!'' she bounced lightly on him in excitement, not unaware of the rapidly growing hardness underneath her.
''Marvellous. Keep doing that while you tell me all about it.'' He reached around to smack her on the ass.
''Ok,'' Darcy began as she pulled her shirt over her head. ''It's going to be about Violet and Mr. Lamont again because I think they're good together.''
''They are,'' Loki agreed, watching with rapt attention as her breasts were revealed.
''And I want them to solve more mysteries. Plus, you know, they still have to explore their relationship.''
''Mmm-hmm,'' he breathed, leaning forward and closing his mouth over her hardened nipple. Darcy buried her fingertips in his hair and wriggled against him again as heat flooded between her legs.
''So many things, you know...to explore,'' she trailed off.
Loki stood, lifting her with him, carrying her into the bedroom where he gently deposited her on the bed. Then he pulled open the drawer of her nightstand, the drawer where Darcy kept all of her naughty toys. She quickly wiggled out of her pants and flung them in the direction of the clothes hamper, missing it. ''Whatcha doing?'' she asked, propping herself up on her elbow as she looked at Loki. He was wearing too many clothes, she concluded.
''Just looking,'' he replied, sifting through the selections before pulling out a decently sized bright green vibrating dildo. ''That used to be my favourite,'' she admitted.
''Really?'' he said, switching it on. It began to buzz. She was frankly amazed that the batteries still worked. She wondered what he was planning this time. Loki sat down on the bed. Darcy turned over and scooted up a little bit. ''Let's see if it's still your favourite.''
''You want me to use it?'' she asked, intrigued. She'd touched herself in front of him before, but she'd only used her fingers.
''No, I want to use it. On you.''
Darcy raised an eyebrow. ''Okay then.'' Less work for me, she thought. Loki brought the toy up so that the tip was touching her lips. The vibration radiated all through her head. ''Suck on it,'' he instructed, his voice lowering. She hadn't done that before, but she complied. It had a weird plastic taste and made her teeth practically dance around in her skull. Still, there was something very sexy about the way he was watching her, so she tried her best, running her tongue along the length.
He seemed satisfied and pulled it out of her mouth, running it down between her breasts, leaving a trail of saliva. It inched lower, down over her belly and then further south. ''Open your legs,'' he said, and she complied eagerly, displaying herself for him, knowing that he could definitely see how wet she was. This always made him very excited. She bit her lip as he teased it over the bud of her clit, jolting at little at the stimulation against her sensitive flesh. ''Too much?'' Loki asked.
''No, no,'' she assured him, ''it's good, keep going.''
''You want it inside?''
She nodded wildly and he gently nudged the tip in, then more. He pulled it out and then pushed it in again further, back and forth, watching with fascination and lust as the bright length disappeared up inside of her body. Darcy's hands fisted in the sheets, her hips bucking. The image of her alone in bed, doing this to herself flooded Loki's mind, an enticing image to be sure. But for some reason, doing it to her really turned him on. He started fucking her with it, slowly at first and then harder, the way he would do if it was his cock.
He was definitely better at this than she was, Darcy realized. She'd always been too easy on herself, so to speak, her motions languid and lazy. She'd learned recently how much she wanted fast, hard, intense. ''I know you like that,'' he growled. ''You just love a good fucking, don't you, you insatiable little slut.''
She'd never thought that she'd ever like being called a slut. Generally, Darcy disliked the word; it was a shaming word, an insult. But not like this. Not from him. Because this wasn't about shame. And yes, right now, she supposed that she was a slut, in the best way possible—she absolutely could not get enough of what he did to her, he made her feel nasty, wild, deviant.
''You know I do,'' she whispered. ''You know I need it bad.'' She grabbed Loki's hand, stilling the motions. ''I need your cock right now.''
Heat flared brightly in his eyes and the sex toy was quickly discarded as he pinned her down on the bed, pulling his erection from his pants and ramming into her. A loud, throaty moan tore from Darcy's chest. ''That's it, baby, that's what I need.''
He pressed her wrists roughly into the mattress above her head, trapping her. This was her secret delight, something that she was coming to crave. She loved being held down, loved the feeling of him on top of her, claiming her. It made her feel safe and strong and alive. It hadn't made sense at first, but the things that they were exploring together gave her what she had been missing, what she'd been wanting without realizing it. She often wondered what else she was missing, what other desires might yet be uncovered. And did she want to know? Did she want to find out just how much of a deviant she really was?
