A/N: So, we all know that Loki's secretly a softy. He shows us his true soft pastel-y colours in this update. I also had to add a chapter because these two just don't want to quit. Shout-outs at the end!
Chapter 4 mini-playlist:
Christian Burghardt – Safe Place to Land
Lana Del Rey – Lolita
Brendan Benson – Pretty Baby
What could be described as a controlled fuck ton of chaos was happening right before Darcy's eyes.
She wasn't sure exactly what to call it. Warp? Wormhole? Blackhole? Having already realised who this was — she wasn't scared of him, nope, not at all, just because he tried to subjugate the planet and pretended to be dead… but he'd still saved Jane so that was something? — she was definitely sure that they weren't in Kansas anymore. More like another section of space-time. Like the Q Continuum only super ominous and swirly and fucking vomit-inducing.
Granted, he smelled really nice. Kind of pine-y and musky. And a little sweet. Loki? Sweet?
The second they landed on something that felt like ground, she tightened her arms around his solid form and squeezed her eyes tightly.
"Oh god oh god oh god," she muttered to herself. "Not gonna hurl, not gonna hurl…"
She could practically feel his smile as his hand ran gently against the back of her head. Okay, he's being too nice. That's creepy. Right? she wondered. Still, it felt kind of good…
"Fear not, Miss Lewis. We are safe. More importantly, you may wish to take in the sights while you get the chance."
Curiosity spiked in her mind and she released her iron grip. A wispy breeze caught the edge of her nose, tickling with its light, springy fragrance.
"Where are we —" she started, only to suck in a gasp as she looked around.
If this was what heaven looked like, Lord, take her now.
It was like falling in the middle of a scene torn straight out of the pages of Alice in Wonderland. Though mostly pastel in shades, there were easily hundreds of colours: from the babiest of blues dusting huge leaves to the fairest, sunshiniest orange-yellow she could imagine painting streaks across petals and vines that hung from chartreuse-coloured trees. Flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colours sat under the sun, soaking up its vivid rays. Was this where all of those trippy, panty-shattering flowers came from?
"Not quite, but rather a good guess," said Loki in a bemused tone of voice.
Well shit, did I say that aloud? she wondered, a splotch of red spreading across her cheeks. Darcy hesitated before looking over her shoulder at him, sheepishly asking, "Are you trying to get into my pants, or what?"
His responding laugh was more than enough of an answer for her. The fact that his hand stroked down her arm — honest to god stroked, like a sex-crazed cat brushing its tail along your legs — kind of left a tingly feeling in its wake. He didn't just have a silver tongue and knicker-melting voice, he had sex fingers, to boot. She was so screwed.
Once the initial awe started to shift into curiosity, she found herself pulling away from him and stepping gingerly across a patch of yellow-green grass. Not the wilty sort of yellow, but like a brilliant shade of acid yellow. Weird but sinfully soft looking.
"Okay, so let's rehash my earlier question: where in the world are we?" Darcy murmured, only slightly distracted.
She was just reaching down to touch said grass when Loki replied from directly behind her:
"I'm afraid we are light-years from your world. This is called the Garden of Wonders, aptly named by the native peoples here. You may know them as Light Elves, what we call the Ljósálfar." In any other situation, she might consider his abnormal proximity a bit creepy, but on this strange world… world?! …his closeness felt a bit grounding. And he was seriously sporting some amazing sex appeal in that green-and-black tunic-y outfit.
She finally crouched down to lightly brush the grass, allowing herself to lean back against him as he followed her lead. "This is beyond amazing, I can't even imagine…"
Shutting her eyes, Darcy inhaled a lungful of the fragrant air and let herself fall back into the memories of her dreams for a few moments. Faint sounds of birds and other chattering animals added to the menagerie of sensations she was soaking up. If she ever imagined travelling to another planet, this was probably what she'd come up with. It was just alien enough, yet still familiar in its own way, to fall on the border of real and unreal.
Loki simply watched her take it all in. The longer she let herself imagine, the more relaxed she became, until she was completely sprawled against him so that his arms and chest were her only support. His little smile grew as he thought that this would almost be enough. But there was still more he needed to show her.
"Come, this is only the beginning," he said softly against the shell of her ear, his whisper a promise of many more wonderful things to come.
Darcy tensed when she realised how relaxed she'd become, but she didn't pull away. For some reason, she wanted to trust him. The fact that his voice brought her shivers probably had a lot to do with that.
"Are we gonna meet the Red Queen for tea?" she quipped, laughing at his quizzically raised eyebrow. "Earth reference, sorry."
"Sounds intriguing," he replied as his hand reached for hers, long fingers interlacing easily with her own as he stood and led the way. "If we should run into this Red Queen, I take it you can take the lead?"
Her eyes widened behind her glasses, left hand going to her chest in mock-fear. "No, no no no! She'll have our heads! Unless we bring her red roses, in which case she'll smile, invite us for tea, and then have our heads!"
Darcy's chatter echoed down the pastel-lined path the further in they went.
While there were many things one might say to describe Darcy Lewis, mysterious was not your typical adjective for her.
Despite that fact, Loki still found something intriguing about her. She was straightforward with her opinions and random factoids; enough so that his head was almost spinning after travelling a half hour beside her. Observing this unusual mortal from a distance certainly didn't do her justice at all.
And still, he wanted — craved — more.
All of a sudden, her voice wasn't filling up the silence he only distantly desired. Loki stopped walking, his gaze running across her face to see if something was wrong.
"Why?" she whispered so quietly, he leaned forward to hear the sole word.
He instinctively wanted to ask what she meant, but one look at her sombre expression told him everything: she wanted to know why her. Why now, perhaps. Why not the other mortal most men might flock to; the one his bro — adopted brother had already claimed.
Or perhaps he was being presumptuous. Either way, he pulled her in by their still-clasped hands, his free fingertips hovering over the flower firmly rooted in her hair.
"You are an inspiration, as well as entirely unlike anyone I have ever met," he said simply. Honestly. For the God of Lies, that was akin to confessing his sins to a mortal priest and begging for absolution.
Much like on Midgard, she was about to say something, so he silenced her with something much more direct.
Although the kiss was swift and barely a meeting of lips, Darcy froze, her hand a vice against his. She wasn't sure if she should kiss back, or gasp, or something else entirely. By the time she'd had a chance to finish her thought, it was already over.
Loki looked at her as though he were studying something on a Petri dish. He had the most penetrating green eyes she'd ever seen, his gaze leaving shivers in its wake.
If this is gonna be a regular thing, I'll need to carry a hot pack on me, floated the feeble internal thought. And if he could read minds, she was really going to sound nuts.
"That still doesn't answer my question," Darcy muttered under her breath, her hand tugging his to move forward. He didn't miss the smile playing along the corner of her lips, try as hard as she might to hide it. The slight glazed look in her eyes told a different story as well, one that he locked away for future analysis. He'd have fun trying to figure this one out.
Loki smoothly shifted gears by asking, "Would you like to see the ultraviolet pools first, or take a quick tour through an exotic animal sanctuary?"
"Wait what, you want me to choose?! Those both sound so cool," Darcy gushed, falling right back into her typical enthusiastic mode.
As it turns out, the pools were first to be visited, and though she wanted to see those awesome animals she could only imagine had horns and wings and other cool mythical appendages, her eyes were definitely getting droopy.
They were wading in the most temperate water she could imagine. Crystalline moss floated towards the shore in radiant hues of blues, purples, even a touch of green. When her finger grazed the edge of a purple one, its lacy surface rippled and danced in all the colours of the rainbow.
"Oh my god, this is unreal," she whispered in awe, her breath leaving in a soft mist. Night was quickly descending.
She caught the hint of an indulgent smile on Loki's face as he came up beside her and gently tugged on her arm.
"We should retire for the evening. I have someplace comfortable laid out for us nearby, so we can return in the morning if you wish."
Darcy was just turning to tell him 'one more minute' when she had a thought. "What time is it on earth?"
Brows crinkling slightly in thought, he replied after a moment. "About 11 in the evening on Thursday, Eastern Standard Time."
Her laugh was quickly smothered with a hand. "Thanks, Timex. Don't quit your day job."
"I shouldn't worry too much about time. Midgard tends to possess the slowest passage of time out of the nine realms, excepting only Hel," he said as he backtracked through the water. Its lukewarm waves lapped slowly against his waist the further out the of the water he rose, until only his legs were still submerged.
Darcy quickly averted her gaze from his moonlight pale skin. With the way the light refracted in this place, she might start to see magical things she definitely didn't need to see. Especially with him being practically naked. The quick gallop of her heart was hard enough to calm down.
"Don't tell me you feel shy," he teased as his hand continued to beckon her forward. She valiantly tried to ignore the way the tips of his fingers whispered along her very exposed arm and shoulder.
"Nope, not at all." She sounded way more confident than she felt, even trying to meet his gaze with a level look. If only she could stop blushing like a schoolgirl, things would be fine.
He dropped it for now, but as before, he tucked her reaction away to exploit later. Loki anticipated using everything in his arsenal when the time came.
Conversation was notably absent as his clothing appeared back on his form in perfect condition. He'd allowed Darcy her own peace of mind when he turned away from her one-legged hop into her jeans, the frustrated little noises she made sounding obscene in the falling dusk of the gardens.
The way back down the path took a slight fork towards the left, where a small open patch lay amidst nut trees. At the far end, Darcy spotted a log house that fit oddly well into the landscape. She could barely separate it from the trees surrounding it if she didn't know what she was looking for.
"Woah, talk about The Hobbit."
"Not quite. You'll find no one else here, and especially not small-statured creatures created in Martin Freeman's image," he replied with a raised brow.
So Loki, the honest-to-god Norse legend, knew some of Earth's cultural blockbusters? Go figure.
"Damn, and here I was hoping for Bilbo's autograph. We're not trespassing on someone's summer home though, are we?"
With a wave of his hand, the solid wood door opened on a creaky hinge. He looked back over his shoulder and completely ignored her question. "Welcome to Alvínn. This location will serve as a temporary respite for us until we return to your home."
She wanted to say something firm about barging into other people's property, but looking around the place, she had a feeling maybe it wasn't what she initially thought. There was a long wooden desk at the front of the entryway that seemed a bit like a hotel check-in, only there was no one else in sight. Before she could comment, Loki placed something in a vine-woven basket and another door swung open, leading into a nicely lit hallway.
"Wait, so is this an elven hotel?" Darcy asked as she fast-walked to keep up with him.
"That would be an apt description," he said without turning back to her. He was fiddling with a door on the right, prompting it to open into a huge… well, mini palace wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Similarly to the Garden of Wonders, there were all sorts of colours and textures here. A few shimmery throw pillows dotted the room's floor, which looked like one giant carpet made out of pale green moss. She couldn't see the whole thing from here, although judging by the two hallways leading to the left and right, she assumed there must be a bedroom, bath, and maybe a kitchen attached to the place.
Loki walked right in and laid out against one of the pillows, his feet suddenly bare and digging into the moss carpet. To say he looked smug with both arms flung behind him and cradling his head would be a serious understatement.
"Well? You may want to get comfortable after earlier's long walk."
Wait, he meant… "Where's my room?"
His smile was distinctly mischievous.
"Behold." He held out his arms to either side of his body, showing off the place in a grand gesture from his spot on the floor. Darcy wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or chew him out.
"Hold up," she started, hand up to stop him from interrupting, "this place does have two rooms, right? Because whatever you might think of humans, I'm not that kind of girl." Her arms crossed over her chest in a serious stance. Well, as serious as she could get with him looking way too delicious with that smouldery expression. Maybe she spoke too hastily.
Loki sat up and levelled her with a scrutinising look. The smoulder was definitely still there, just slightly overshadowed by something analytical that he was prone to doing a lot around her.
"No, I suspected not," was all he said, easy smile back in place as he reclined once again.
She honestly wasn't sure what to make of him. Or this place. Or the fact that he brought her here, kissed her earlier, yet was still acting polite and mostly unassuming around her. Talk about throwing a girl for a loop.
Despite all of that, she plopped down beside him and leaned back into the cushiest pillow ever. Her shoes were flung out beside her in ten seconds flat, mimicking his toe-spreading into heavenly soft moss.
"Soooo good," groaned Darcy, limbs going entirely limp.
Before long, Loki turned to ask her about her thoughts on this visit, only to notice her fast asleep. His expression softened, his hand reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. His flower was still entrenched in her hair against all odds.
"Rest well, Darcy Lewis," he whispered, falling back into a restful position and closing his own eyes. Tomorrow would greet them brightly.
Owing to her internal clock, Darcy was up at what felt like 6am. She was still hazy from sleep, but she couldn't remember even dreaming last night, nor did she entirely forget where they were. The softness beneath her feet and the smell in the air were simply too alien to feel like Earth.
What she didn't anticipate was the solid mass beneath her arms. Or, well, more like being held hostage by her arms. A definite flush was starting to crawl up her neck when she twisted her head to make sure Loki hadn't noticed. Naturally, he was smirking down at her with all the finesse of a fox mid-hunt.
"Rest well?" he asked cheekily, his trapped body turned very suggestively towards her.
Fuck fuck fuck.
"Fine!" she said with as much stability in her voice as she could muster. Too bad it still came out sounding like a helium balloon releasing its contents. Oddly enough, that image made her want to vomit just a little bit.
Pulling herself into a much more respectable position on her side of the… moss-floor-bed-thing she'd slept on, Darcy sat up and shoved her glasses back up her nose.
"So! What other weird yet wonderful thing are we gonna check out today?!" Overenthusiastic, much?
Smirk still in place, Loki mirrored her posture. "I had thought the animal sanctuary would be a nice morning activity. You seemed quite keen on the idea yesterday." He was leaning forward just a little bit as he dropped his voice to shiver-inducing. "Or perhaps we could laze about here all day. My morning is already off to a very pleasurable start."
For the millionth time in so many hours, she figured she was royally screwed. Royally alien screwed? WAIT! NO. Backtrack.
…although.
Forcefully shoving the stupid voices in her head to the very back of her mind marked "WARNING! DANGER! ACHTUNG!" she got up with as much grace as she could muster, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet while waiting for him to join her.
"Yes, that sounds like a fantastic idea. In fact, we should stay there all day. And night. And forever, really. Or, you know, you could always take me back to Earth sometime before we almost get naked again."
Foot, meet mouth. Mouth, meet filter.
"I mean! Before we fall into that awesome pool again. Talk about diverting. And man, Jane has a lot of shit for me to do and —"
"Miss Lewis," Loki said calmly.
"— I just think that, if we go now, maybe we can —"
"Darcy."
"— make it before Jane calls Tony and…" Only a little belatedly, she heard him and turned the tap off her running mouth. "Uh, sorry. Yes, Loki?" Good, try for sane. He'll appreciate that. I mean it's not like he tried to destroy upper Manhattan.
Wait. SHIT!
"Am I making you feel particularly uncomfortable? You appeared to enjoy yourself yesterday, so if I did something to change that, I would like to apologise."
He knew how to articulate himself, she'd give him that; especially considering that she was having a mini meltdown on her end. Try as hard as she might, she also couldn't ignore the sincerity in those endless depths of perfect emerald. His eyes were sinful.
"No, it's not really… well, yes, but only a little." She wasn't sure how to go on without appearing an utter fool, so Darcy did what she did best: taking a deep breath to steady herself, she dove right in. "I'm kind of worried that you've kidnapped me for reals and while that's truly scary, is it bad that I'm not 100% upset about it? I mean, those flowers, that pool, this whole place. Just… wow."
Silence echoed through the room like an invisible banshee screeching in her ear. Darcy let out her breath and inhaled again, unconsciously holding it.
Then he laughed.
Honest to god chuckled, which was starting to turn into one of those deep belly laughs. Her mouth lifted in an empathetic smile, because you really can't not laugh when someone else is busting a gut nearby. Before long, they were leaning against one another for support, both realising the absurdity of the situation and then laughing even longer. It was probably the most cathartic thing she'd done in way too long.
Traces of a few tears lingered on their cheeks when the laughter died down. The remaining silence was much more bearable, leaving them smiling at each other and actively reaching for one another's hands. That's how they later found themselves taking a leisurely stroll down the fork in the road.
This little trip down the rabbit hole could never be described as dull, to say the least.
A/N:
Smiles1998: I live to serve! ;] So glad you liked Tony! He's my ridiculous spirit animal.
rats xp: Would that I could grow such flowers, I'd gladly bestow you with a gift!
Utrix & Mystic 777: Spot on regarding the melancholy Thor. Imagine realising it was from his mother's garden, whom your sibling was so close to, when he's been lost for so long. Makes me sympathise a bit with Loki. Okay, a lot. [Also, P&P is a personal fave]
Tawny & KieraPSI: Thank you! Keep an eye out. :]
