Thank you for taking the time to read my Loki x Jane pairing! To be clear, I do not own Marvel. And I have to thank my dear friend Sarah (xosairbearxo) for assisting me with this and motivating me to writing it and a shout out to VeronicaRage for helping me with the Title (I suck at Titles). Enjoy!
PS: I do not own Marvel or its characters. I'm merely having fun with them.
Pay Jane a Visit
Jane had a rough day - like most days she'd had in the last few weeks, ever since the Aether had been extracted from her and when Thor had left her - again. Her nightmares didn't seem to stop, leaving her sleepless most nights. This particular day had her attempting to pass the time hunched over a cup of coffee as she looked over her old notes. They were scattered across her coffee table, the couch, and the majority of the rest of them even found messily along the floor. She redirected her exhausted energy into her work, which was typical Jane-behavior whenever she felt bored out of her mind. This was entirely defeating the purpose of her vacation, which would have normally granted her a barrage of nagging from Eric and Darcy, the ultimate nagging team. But with her nights of unrest seeming constant, there was not much else for her to do other than look through her old papers. She even ran through a few of her dissertations from Grad school, making corrections and re-evaluating her equations. One particular paper that caught her eye was the one that she received the most ridicule from. It was her paper on Relativistic Astrophysics around Black Holes, in relation to the Eisen Rosen Bridge; she went into length about traveling throughout the universe and how black holes were more of untamed and complicated pathways than simply the implosion of a dying star. She remembered getting mocked by the majority of her professors, and eventually she lost what little peers she had due to her devotion to this research. She was left with only Eric and Darcy to turn to.
And then there was Thor. Her very God of Thunder who she had prayed would return for a good several months after he left to return to Asgard. She knew he had much to prepare for; his grieving for losing not only his Mother, but his little brother as well. The thought of him losing his loved ones for the sake of the Nine Realms rattled her brain. Jane couldn't help but feel responsible for a lot that had transpired on Asgard - especially the losses of Frigga and Loki. The more Jane thought about them, the more she cursed herself and wanted to jump off of a ten story building. Selfishly enough, Jane was determined to see Thor again, even if she had to wait another two years like the last time. Despite the eagerness of her friends' insistence that she take a well-needed break, Jane couldn't help but look over her past research records in an attempt to help her come up with any algorithms she could muster, just in case she could find something - anything - of good use; a breakthrough. It angered her to think that she was so far from Eric and Darcy, while they ventured to see S.H.I.E.L.D without her.
She wondered if they would come into contact with Thor before she could. Her work was more important to her than anything else in her life, but then Thor had come into it and shifted her entire reason to keep going with her research. Just like the first time he had gone, she made more of an effort to get her equations and experiments in working order - and since finding the anomaly in London, and visiting Asgard on her own trip through the Eisen Rosen Bridge, Jane wanted nothing more than to go back there and to see the god again. But Eric and Darcy saw what the over-exhausted Jane was doing to herself. Her new obsessions with Thor and Asgard had only progressed and become more obsessive after she had returned, and so they thought it was the best thing for her, by leaving her behind - no matter how much Jane hated it.
Now they were gone - fighting her fight, supporting her discoveries, and helping S.H.I.E.L.D work through her research so they could make their very own portal throughout the Realms. Jane wanted so badly to be there; she couldn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D faster than she could throw them, but she did trust Eric and Darcy (or at least trust Darcy to help Eric to remember his medication after his last mental breakdown). Eric insisted she take the backseat on this trip, knowing her research as much as she did and not wanting her to suffer from her exhaustion more than she already was. And here she was, doing just that and looking over papers and notes that got her laughed out of the offices of her Professors. Trying not to remember how she ended up alone in London, she buried her head in her knees and swept all her notes from the coffee table with one livid swipe of her arm, making all her pages fly through the air and fall into a disorganized mess around her.
What upset her most was the realization that she couldn't simply take care of herself. What would Thor think of her if he saw her like this? Jane was always the first to try and rationalize a reason for her overzealous behavior because she was a fighter, and would prove herself to near death if it meant proving to others that she was right. And she was right to think that Thor would return, even if she had to find a way to do it herself with or without anyone's help. Jane stood up from the couch to get another cup of coffee and try to come up with other ways of passing the time. She maneuvered over the scattered papers all over the floor like a thief getting through a hall of lasers. Nearly falling flat on her face, she managed to make it to the kitchen, no longer paying much attention to the death trap she had contrived in her living room. She was oblivious to her clumsiness until it was too late, but luckily for her she came out unscathed, so her awareness never waned from her ambitions to get another cup of coffee. Jane grinned in relief when she fashioned herself a cup. The one thing her mother had done right all year, before her cruise, was give Jane the most glorious invention ever created: the express espresso machine. Jane made a glorious cup within seconds. She stirred in some milk and creamer and then turned back to her asylum of paperwork - only to find that her living room suddenly looked different somehow. She noticed just one crumpled-up piece of paper resting in the center of her now empty coffee table (which she doesn't recall seeing before). She looked at the wrinkled bundle, not remembering doing it…
Dear God, am I going nuts? Jane asked herself, letting out a long resounding sigh and sitting her cup of coffee down. She indulged herself a bit more and opened the crumpled piece of paper, unfolding the millions of creases and flattening the sheet that unveiled a particular equation that she seemed to have overlooked about the Eisen Rosen Bridge. She saw that a few things were smudged out, allowing the equation to run much more smoothly, effortlessly. Jane thought maybe she was having a "Beautiful Mind" moment. She was relieved to see that her apartment wasn't covered in math graffiti or a maze of strings and maps, so she at least had that much going for her. Jane took a moment to survey the rest of the room, not noticing much else that seemed out of place, though she now couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive. Jane carried on suspiciously back onto the couch where she began to clean up her notes, trying to not feel so paranoid. Once her notes were put away in her filing boxes, she hunkered down onto the couch, cupping her mug with two hands and staring longingly at the mysterious sheet of paper.
She leaned forward and looked at it again, setting her mug on the wooden surface, neglecting to use the cute owl coasters Darcy gave her for Christmas as a stalking stuffer one year. Jane, being the natural problem solver that she was, couldn't recall even glancing at this equation, let alone fixing it. Jane eyeballed it for a little while.
She didn't even notice the figure that leaned against the wall in the corner of the room.
He was invisible to her eye, sneaking through her apartment like a ghost. His grin grew as he watched her trying to connect the dots. The mischievous intruder had little willpower to withstand the urges to play his tricks, but when he had arrived this morning, Jane had looked bored. So in a way, she had been asking for it. He wanted to be in and out like he promised himself, but how could he pass up this opportunity to do what he did best? Loki had little self-control, and had decided to have his fun.
He paced towards her slowly, slinking over to her side like the sneaky snake that he was. He took a seat beside her on the armrest of the couch, admiring her alluring expression. Loki couldn't help but notice how attractive she was when she was deep in concentration. Her eyebrows furrowed, making her face harden with determination. Loki suddenly felt the urge to make her feel something – anything - even if it was just the slightest shiver. So he leaned over slightly and blew his breath softly against her cheek. Jane felt it, ever so faintly, and got the chills instantly; her skin across her entire body developed goose-bumps, and Loki reveled in his flirtatious efforts to witness Jane's reaction to this. She looked over in his direction but he knew she couldn't see him. She peered over to the open window. Loki sprung up from the couch and backed away as she suddenly got up and made to move past him. She approached the panes, Loki still maneuvering away from her quickly. Jane shut the window and looked out of it for a good, long while.
"Maybe I have gone crazy," Jane spoke despondently and turned to Loki without realizing he was there, looking more depressed than ever. "Damnit Thor, where are you?!"
Loki's grin fell downward when he heard his brother's name escape her lips, finding that his trick only amused her for so long. Now her thoughts were back on Thor; not that Loki should have been surprised. Still, it made his blood burn with anger. But why would he be having these triggers of jealousy, he wondered? Loki crossed his arms to mope and leaned back against the wall; his eyes tailed her as she walked passed him and went into her bathroom. It was a delayed reaction, but he soon followed after her. Peeking around the entrance, he saw that she was looking at herself in the mirror with her hands holding either side of it. Her look seemed vexed but he wasn't sure why. Loki thought that maybe he shouldn't be playing his tricks on her after all, but he wanted to distract her - even help her with her equations. Unlike most of his pranks,
these were actually stemming from good intentions. He returned to her papers and looked over them quickly while her back was turned. He had known exactly how to repair them, and he thought it would have helped. He knew it would spark her attention, but he never intended for her to feel like she was going insane, only to wind up thinking about Thor as if nothing else mattered. Guilt and envy filled his heart like it always had when it came to his brother, and he didn't know how to undo and fix his little mistake. He felt disgusted.
Why do you care? One part of his mind asked himself mockingly.
Because she means something to you…..Was his only answer. But that was crazy… wasn't it?
Feeling angry with himself for feeling sentiment, Loki knew he needed to step away from the situation for a bit and clear his head. In an instant, he was gone. As soon as he'd vanished, Jane turned her head in his direction, feeling strangely like someone had been standing there, watching her. She quickly looked out into the hallway, and saw nothing and no one.
"Story of my life," she said with disillusionment, and took herself to bed.
