Thank you to: Whiteanddark, Farrellm21, mjsmart2001 , Mgirl5526, and Anayellow for the reviews.
Adisa had found it odd that her new friend wouldn't give her a name. At first it scared her, but when he told her that he would tell her when he was ready she shyly accepted the answer. At first she tried to guess his name, and every time he just laughed at her. None of her guesses really suited him, and they sounded awful. Then she had tried to come up with a name on her own. This didn't last long because she quickly grew frustrated and just accepted that she would know some day.
They met each other just about every morning, and if Loki couldn't make it he would find her in the afternoon. Then on very rare occasions he wouldn't show up at all. Those were the days that he really missed her.
It was hard for him to balance his friendship with Adisa and his duties because he didn't want his family to know. Thor would barge into the garden and scare the poor girl, where as his mother would pester her for tea. Adisa wouldn't be able to handle his family, because he barely could. But then there was that small part of him that wanted them to guess what he was up to because he knew it was driving them mad.
His mother had begun to bother him that there had to be a young woman he was interested in, but when he remained tight lipped about Adisa she grew silent. Frigga had hoped and prayed for a long time that her son would find someone. She never had to worry about Thor because she knew he would never have problems finding a woman because his personality was so large that when he was in the room, he was often the only one everyone paid attention to. Where Loki was a shadow.
It hadn't always been like this, because Loki at one point in his life was very charming and although he didn't know it caught the eyes of many. It was of course not the same way they looked at Thor, because with Thor people looked forward to the stories. Where a with Loki they always wanted to hear the young man speak, so they could hear the fluid like intelligence that fell from his lips, and to see if he would play some sort of trick.
But when Loki fell into darkness, he lost that charm he once had. He lost that small smile on his lips that his mother loved so much, and the girls swooned over. As well as the soft puppy dog look on his face that he would use to convince women of nasty deeds and melt his mother's heart.
People were scared to look at him, and people were waiting for him to fall again so the Allfather would punish him. It was almost expected of him to go down the same path, and Loki would crumble under the pressure. If anyone stood behind a person and waited for them to make a mistake they would eventually make one.
Frigga was as beautiful as she was smart and she and her husband had taken notice of how he snuck off for hours. First there was a fear he was up to no good, but when they had asked Heimdall about Loki's disappearance he said the young prince had found a female friend and not to worry.
The man wouldn't speak any more of the girl, but it had made Frigga beam from ear to ear. Loki not only a friend, but he had a lady friend. It was clear to her that her son had found a young maiden that he liked, and she must have cared for her son in return. It was hard for her not to pry, but she wanted to know so badly. She hadn't had this much excitement in a very long time and she could hardly contain herself.
It was her husband that reminded her that if they wanted Loki to trust and care for them like before, they had to be careful how they treaded. They couldn't go around following him just to get a peek at a girl he believed would be brought home one day.
If Loki had such an interest in a young woman, it was clearly because he cared greatly for her. This meant that one day he would ask her to be his bride. Both parents had decided they wouldn't fight who he brought home simply because Loki was a special case. He needed who ever this woman was, and they would not deny their son the young woman in fear he would fall again.
Loki knew his family was suspicious so he always looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed before running off to the small garden they liked to meet at. Once there he would forget that he was hiding from his family and actually enjoy his time spent with Adisa.
On one particular day, he gently clutched a small book to his chest. He was beaming with pride, over his new find. Earlier that day his brother had dragged him along early to a small village that was famous for selling odd trinkets. There he found a small book with braille inside. The book was old and worn, and had no title on it. In his excitement he hadn't even bothered skimming the first paragraph and just bought it.
The book was small, and maybe only 50 to 60 pages long, so he knew it must have been a very short story. But regardless of the size Adisa would be overjoyed to read something other than the book she always seemed to carry around with her. There was no doubt in his mind that she would be as excited as he was.
Peeking around quickly, Loki slid between two statues. When the close was clear he made his way to the garden to find Adisa sitting beside the water fountain her fingers lazily skimming the surface. There was an over joyed look on her face as she tried to still her laughter as she waited for one of the fish to nibble at her fingers.
When she would feel the gentle sucking she would squeal and pull her hand back in laughter. It was a wonderful sound to his ears and for a moment he was taken back by the sight. He could feel the slight swell in his heart that he liked to ignore. There was such a sense of wonder and excitement in her world, and sometimes she would invite him in. He would of course have to close his eyes to understand, but when he did he could see something he knew not many people could.
Shaking his head he walked over to Adisa before sitting down beside her softly. He had learned that she often heard him even before he announced himself, so it was hard for him to catch her off guard. He had asked her once how she had always known it was him, and she explained how everyone felt or walked different. She could pick him out of a small crowd easily.
"I have something for you. I found it this morning." He grinned, crossing his legs. If his parents could see him they would have thought he reverted back to a small child. Adisa had a look of confusion on her face and pulled her hand away from the water fountain before shifting herself towards him.
She never faced him head on, but turned herself slightly to her right. She could hear better sitting this way, and it was easier for her to pick up on the small things normal people would read on someone's face.
"Something for me?" She asked clearly surprised that he would bring her a gift. In all honesty she was surprised that anyone would give her a gift. Loki hummed out a response gently taking her hands and forcing them so she was holding her hands out for him.
Her confusion continued to grow as he placed the book in her hands, and she gently ran her fingers over the binding. It didn't take her long to figure out she was holding a book, but it wasn't until her fingers ran along the inside of the book did he see a spark of excitement.
"You found a book in braille?" She excitedly asked clutching the book to her chest. The excitement on her face was evident, and he could feel an extreme sense of pride wash over him.
"You really shouldn't have, these are too expensive." She said her face suddenly filled with worry, Loki almost scoffed if only she knew money wasn't a problem for him.
"I found it at a flea market; I assure you it wasn't any hassle." If Adisa could see Loki she would see the coy smile on his face, and how he tried not to explode with joy. Adisa attempted to swipe tears away from her face, he had never seen someone react this way from a gift. But he was positive out of all the gifts he had ever given this was a reaction of true gratefulness.
The tears were quickly battered away and she put a large smile on her face to hide the awkwardness. Loki had wanted to reach out and touch her thinking that distracting her would make her feel better.
"How would you like to read it now?" He asked, eyeing her face carefully. He was waiting for her to burst out into tears again, or for her face to split into a huge smile. Instead she only nodded her head and pulled back the front cover and begun to read the first few lines out loud.
She positioned her finger on the left side of the page to mark herself. She used this finger to let herself know what sentence she had just finished reading, then with the other she gently skimmed it across the page gathering the letters in a bundle and forming words in her head.
The first few paragraphs were relatively normal, but as she progressed her reading did Loki notice something was truly wrong. The book was odd and before his head had clicked in what was happening Adisa stopped reading out loud, but her fingers continued on.
It was at this exact moment that Loki had realized what kind of book he had bought Adisa because her cheeks blazed red and she tore her fingers away from the page. Loki had accidentally bought the young girl a smut novel.
Loki was sure his face was a red as Adisa because he should have known better then to just by a book without knowing what it was. He could only imagine what she was thinking, and he was sure she thought he was a huge pervert. What kind of man would hand a blind girl a book, and make her read it out loud, let alone one with porn.
Adisa started to shake with embarrassment, and Loki acted on pure instinct. Instinct was not something Loki acted well on, he liked to think through everything and even in tight situations he was usually one step ahead. Only this moment he was tripping over his own feet.
"Adisa...I'm sorry! I didn't know! The book didn't have a cover and I only bought it because it had braille, I had no idea it was…oh…I'm so sorry." His tongue was in all sorts of knots, and his head was clouded with so much that he just decided to stop talking.
Adisa suddenly started to fiddle with the book, and it was clear she was trying to pick it up. Then with strength that would have impressed Thor she flung the book into the fountain causing it to splash water everywhere. They were both hit with a sprinkle of water, but remained almost entirely dry. The fountain was about waste deep, so once the book sunk it would probably never be found again.
"Oh my, I didn't think…I didn't think there was such a thing." She said pressing her hands to her flaming cheeks. Loki had known very well that those things had existed; he was after all a man, and at one time a young boy.
He and Thor had once discovered a smut book hidden in the dark corners of the library. Curious the two read from a few of the pages and then regretted it. At the time they really didn't understand what they were reading, and trying to imagine what was going on was terrifying. They both found it very hard to look at their parents, and when their mother had asked them what was wrong their cheeks went red with embarrassment as they muttered out 'nothing'.
Their mother of course never truly believed them, but didn't pry anymore then she thought she needed to. Whatever had happened between the two boys were clearly embarrassed, and had learned their lesson. She was indeed right because neither of the boys ever read a smut novel again.
Now that he was an adult he didn't see sex as terrifying. He had of course been with many women, and it was apparent that Adisa hadn't been with anyone. This had only made his situation worse. The silence now started to feel like cement had been plastered onto his feet and that he was now sinking to the bottom of a very deep lake. He had no idea what to do.
Laughter rung out of the garden, and bewildered Loki watched as Adisa almost doubled over. She clearly found something funny about the situation. Her laughter rang out for a few moments, and as hard as he tried to fight it, her laughter was infectious.
When she was finished she fanned her face and casually said, "I guess from now on you will ALWAYS take a peek at what's inside the book before giving it away to young ladies."
She would never understand how truly right she was at that moment. He would never give a book to another person before making sure what was inside the book, was something to be shared.
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