Chapter Four: The Sights

Loki and Thor locked eyes for a while. Neither of them knowing what to say to the other… This was all so strange. One minute they both seemed like complete strangers, living their separate lives, going their separate ways, only seeing each other for a split second. Now, something sparked between them, something neither of them could place.

Loki felt his heart speed up a little. Something was very different about Thor and as he stared into those bright, blue eyes, it felt as though he'd known this person for ages. His jaw slightly dropped in surprise. A chill ran down his spine like a cube of ice and he stiffened in his chair. He didn't notice how Abhilasha and her bodyguard stared at Loki with a strange curiosity.

They were both used to seeing stoic Loki. Loki with hardly any falters in his speech, hardly a smile, hardly any emotion and now they were witnessing Loki become perfectly speechless. It seemed unreal.

Thor stood up from the desk quickly and made his way around it, headed in Loki's direction….

It took every ounce of determination Loki had to yank his head away from Thor's direction and stare at his feet instead, pretending as though he weren't there. Try as hard as he may, he wasn't magical. Thor still saw him and Thor was still approaching quickly. He wished that Abhilasha would say something… ANYTHING. Ask him for something, interpret something, but no, she remained quiet. Curse her and her damn love for drama!

"Hey!" Thor said, "Hey, I know this is awkward. I saw you at the Malibu Fish Grill on Sepulveda Boulevard, remember?" Thor knew this was strange. Here, a celebrity, a bonafide Bollywood star was sitting in his gym's lobby and he was talking to the interpreter. It was nice, however, to talk to someone normal after having a constant barrage of egotistical celebrities flooding through the doors every week.

Loki didn't respond. He just continued to stare at his feet. Perhaps he was hoping that if he stared at his feet long enough, he'd just disappear into thin air and Loki wouldn't have to talk to this strange… handsome… beautiful-

"I'm sorry, I know this is awkward." Thor spoke, he looked at Loki with a sincere smile. Friendly. So friendly that it gave Loki the willies. He wasn't used to a stranger being so kind to him. Especially not with Abhilasha around. He was always the used rug in most social situations when he tagged along with her. Loki cleared his throat and looked up at Abhilasha, who was giggling and smiling. He glared.

"Y-yes…" Loki said. "Yes, I remember you." Was this normal?! Was this a normal conversation, did people usually greet each other they saw once before in America? Loki couldn't recall a time where something like this happened before.

Thor did not think this through. He wanted to tell the man that he was beautiful, that he absolutely thought Loki was brilliant and stunning. But that was a pretty heavy load to drop on a perfect stranger. Maybe he should introduce himself first?

"I was so excited when I heard Ms. Abhay was coming to LA." Thor lied. "I have someone seeing if we have a trainer who speaks Hindi and they should be able to help her, should she chose to train at this gym." He smiled and noticed that Loki looked scared shitless. "Maybe we could talk while one of the trainers helps her?"

Loki did not want to respond. What was he supposed to say to that? "I don't mind." He said softly.

"Great! It's kind of funny, you remind me of someone I may have met before." Maybe in a past life? Thor added in his mind. Who knew, maybe? Loki seemed to nod in agreement… Odd. This whole situation seemed weird! But who knew, maybe this was Thor's chance to get to know the beautiful stranger? Find out who he was, where he's been.

He noticed that Loki glanced over at Abhilasha and let out a soft sigh. Then he turned to Thor and said in a quiet voice, "I feel the same way."

In that moment, Loki was incredibly thankful that Abhilasha couldn't understand a word of English.

Thor smiled. Yes, this could be the start of something beautiful.

. . . .

As promised, Abhilasha was introduced to Abeer, a personal trainer from Tamil Nadu who spoke Tamil, Hindi, Punjabi and English. Abhilasha stated that she no longer needed Loki for the remainder of her meeting with Abeer, for as long as they both spoke Hindi, they'd be alright talking with each other in private. So, Loki was left to wait out in the lobby with Thor.

Thor was a never ending wave of compliments. Loki was almost completely overwhelmed by the amount of attention he was getting from this one man… Surely, Thor had better things to do than to talk to him? This was a popular spot for celebrities to exercise, right? Certainly he could be entertaining one of them instead of talking to just a lowly interpreter. Loki's English wasn't even that great!

"You know…" Thor said absentmindedly, "It's nice to talk to someone normal for once. Everyone that comes through those doors are usually fake."

"Fake?" Loki asked. "They are not real people that come through the doors? What are they, if not real people?"

Thor laughed. "Oh, no, I mean… They are not genuine. They are not honest. They just come in here, pretend that they like you, but in actuality they're just here because of our name. We're a top quality gym and celebrities just come here because it's sort of an unwritten law that states all celebrities should exercise here."

"Ah. I see." Loki said. He shrank back into the chair. Thor, on the other hand, perked up a little more.

"I've told you a lot about myself and about this gym." Thor mentioned. "I haven't gotten to ask you about yourself."

"There's not much you need to know." Loki replied dryly.

"I have a few minutes to spare. You can at least tell me your favorite color. I want to figure out how I know you. Something about you tells me I know you." Thor was eager to talk to Loki.

"... Look…" Loki glanced at Thor. "... Thor, I feel the same way, I feel like I know you, but I'm pretty sure you just look like someone I've seen before somewhere. I don't think we actually know each other."

Thor looked hurt. Yet, he still stood fast and continued talking to Loki, no matter how many times Loki tried to avoid all conversation. The way Thor looked at him was giving him a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like it.

"There's always the chance that we could get to know each other. If Ms. Abhay decides to become a member of our gym, I'm sure I'll be seeing you more often."

Loki groaned, or, tried to, anyway. The thought of seeing someone as beautiful as Thor every day, someone as kind as Thor wasn't a bad thought. It was just that Loki didn't want to have to subject himself to talking in English any longer than he needed to. He'd rather be quiet than speak English when he wasn't getting paid to.

"I guess." Loki said.

Abhilasha and Abeer soon appeared in the hallways, coming from one of the office doors of the personal trainers. Immediately, Loki got to his feet, a part of him was thankful for Abhilasha's return, at least this would give him something to do instead of sit and look awkward and pitiful in front of Thor.

"I've come to decide that I quite like this gym." Abhilasha explained to Loki, who, in turn, groaned. This would mean more of his time would be wasted talking in horrible English to Thor, meant that he'd feel awkward and skittish again and mostly meant that he'd probably have to help Abhilasha's bodyguard carry a bunch of heavy shit that Abhilasha liked to carry around for work outs. Loki turned to Thor, translating,

"She says she's decided that she would like to become a member here…"

"Great!" Thor was rather enthusiastic, but Loki knew it was only because that would mean they'd spend more "time" together.

"We've already gone over the paperwork, Thor." Abeer spoke before Thor could volunteer to go over it again. Thor gave her a playful glare and she smiled in return. All the while, Loki was glad that finally Thor's attention was finally put on someone else for a change.

"Alright, then, Ms. Abhilisha…"

"Abhilasha." Loki corrected.

"I'm sorry… Heh, I am not that good with names, even English ones." Thor admitted. Thor started to chuckle a little… Loki's chilly disposition began to melt a little. That laugh was so familiar. Despite his very adamant denial of the possibility of himself and Thor knowing each other, Loki was actually beginning to believe Thor may be on to something… Maybe, somehow they did know each other?

"Loki."

Abhilasha's voice tore Loki out of the fantasy just as quickly as he'd entered it. Loki returned to his stoic, almost pissed off, usual self and stared at Abhilasha blankly, waiting to hear her new demands. Immediately, Abhilasha shoved a bunch of papers in Loki's arms.

"Read these and sign them for me accordingly."

Loki groaned, turning to Thor to speak for the last time today, after all, Loki was sure that Abhilasha would want to start her sessions first thing tomorrow. "Thank you very much, Thor. I look forward to seeing you again."

Thor clapped Loki on the back with his hand. "I look forward to seeing you again too, Loki." Thor's heart jumped in his ribcage as Loki's lips curled into the faintest, little smile. Thor was glad to know that maybe he was finally getting to Loki.

Loki had to be dragged out of the lobby by an impatient Abhilasha, her bodyguard following close behind.

Thor stared at the door as they left. "Wow." He didn't even notice the other members as they were coming and going.

. . . .

"What did he say to you?" Abhilasha was prying. She didn't even care that they weren't that far out of earshot to start gossiping. Loki growled softly in his throat as they were walking away from the gym, Loki still holding the papers firmly in his hand. She didn't actual care about Loki, she just wanted to know what was going on between him and that blonde, muscular guy.

"Nothing important." Loki snorted. That answer didn't stop Abhilasha from prying even more…

"You stared at him for an awfully long time, you know… And I saw the way he looked at you!" Abhilasha was beginning to sound like she was accusing Loki of something. Whether it was good or bad, he couldn't quite tell.

"Yeah? Well… He's not exactly hard on the eyes." Try as he may, Loki's face still flushed and of course, Abhilasha was going to point it out.

"Your face is turning red!" She exclaimed. "You like him don't you?"

The door opened to their limousine and Abhilasha jumped into the backseat with fervor and excitement. She lived for this sort of drama. Loki, on the other hand, slipped into the backseat quietly, debating with himself on how much he should tell her. He had all of two options: He could do his best (and fail) at convincing Abhilasha that he didn't know Thor well enough to 'like' him, or, he could remain quiet and let her figure out things for herself.

He chose the latter.

. . . .

"No way, Thor… Are you sure you weren't just high on those energy shakes you drink…?"

"No, Steve, I'm serious, I actually saw him… I even talked to him, his name is Loki. He's the translator of that Bollywood star… Oh, whats-her-name."

"Abhay something, I think." Steve added. "That's crazy, man! You were just telling me that you just saw him on Google images and now you've actually talked to the guy!"

"Yeah… and he's so beautiful in person, Steve."

There was an unusual pause, it left Thor wondering if he'd said something wrong. "Steve…?"

"It sounds to me like you are awfully invested in getting to know… Loki, right?"

"I swear, Steve, I know him! I know I know him somehow… I can't help but feel like we are connected somehow…"

"Well, you both have mythological names." Steve pointed out, and that was true, but that couldn't mean much… could it? Thor's mind started racing, going a million miles a minute, thinking of all the possibilities. Thor was determined to figure out how he knew Loki; he was so certain he knew the man somehow. Steve's voice broke through his thoughts like a bullet to his head.

"But, Thor, that doesn't necessarily mean anything… Plenty of people have mythological names!"

"We've got something deeper between us, Steve. I know it." Thor's confidence must've shook Steve up a little, because right away Steve responded quickly with alarm in his voice,

"Just… be careful, Thor, please? You sound like you like him a lot… You don't know anything about him!"

"I will soon."

"Fine." Steve's voice evened out finally. "Well, I've got to go… Bucky just gave me the finger for being too loud again."

"Ha. The Steve Rogers I know wouldn't take that kind of crap from anyone." Thor laughed.

"Yeah… haha, that's why I gotta go. I need to teach that asshole a lesson."

"Fine, I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, bye."

The line went dead and Thor was left to be alone in his dark room, the only light was that coming from the computer screen. Of course, he'd Googled the pictures of Abhilasha Abhay that had Loki hidden in the background. He was determined to get to know this man… Absolutely determined.

Author's Notes:

So, I've been away for a long time. I had a couple of hospitalizations and some other crazy things happen between now and the last time I made an entry for this story. I recently reread what I had wrote and I thought, "Wow, this plot has a lot of potential for some really awesome stuff!" So I thought I'd continue writing and see how it would turn out.

I feel like not much happened in this chapter, and I'm so sorry about that. To make those who have read this story to wait for so long and then have absolutely no plot progression happen. But please, bear with me. As we speak I am working on the next chapter and I promise to have some plot progression happen there.

To those who are new to reading my stories, I tend to start off really slow, then once the plot thickens it goes crazy fast from there, then skids to an end. I have been known to write really depressing endings, but for this one, I want to change that!

Anyway, I'm going to get back to writing the next chapter, hopefully I will have it posted by tomorrow night.

As always, R & R

- Rawiyah