Loki paused, his breath heavy and hot against Lacia's skin. She looked up at him, concerned, why was he stopping? He stood up,

"I do not think that this is a good idea." He said carefully, "We both have class tomorrow, and I would prefer it if I was able to concentrate. I believe this will make it rather difficult," Lacia stared at him, searching his green orbs. She could understand that it was important to him to make a good impression on his students... but were his priorities really right? That was when Lacia began to sober up.

"Oh god." Her eyes widened. What was she doing here? Sure Loki was sexy and tempting, but he was her lecturer, and a murderous bastard. "Oh god." she repeated.

"Yes?" Loki teased, he lifted her chin, forcing her to make eye contact with him again. She found that despite her sudden awareness, she did not feel self conscious, and she did not want to leave. "Perhaps we should continue when we have both had time to think about this properly." He smiled sadly.

Lacia watched in a daze as Loki pulled his trousers back on and buckled his belt, before reaching down to pick something up from the floor. She absent-mindedly took her bra from him and began fastening it behind her. What was she doing? Why did it feel so wrong to stop? She had so many questions buzzing around her head, but decided that he mind would be clearer in the morning. She slowly dressed, before picking up her bag. Loki was watching her, trying to understand what she wanted. It was only as she began heading for his front door that he grabbed her hand. He turned her around to face him, before planting a deep and heat-filled kiss on her mouth. He savoured the taste of her, promising that this was not the end. Lacia's face lit up after this, and she smiled before leaving, and pulling out her mobile to call for a taxi.

When Lacia had gone, Loki headed over to his sofa to slump down into it. He lounged there, trying to understand what had happened, and why he felt so strange. He had no recollection of changing, since when did he care about other people's feelings? As a child he had tried so hard to impress, to stand tall beside his brother. But he had always been second. Always the younger one. And then he finally learned the truth of his bloodline. He was never Loki Odinson, always Loki Laufeyson. He resented both names. Now he was still the god of lies and mischief, and he would not thank his adopted father or his real father for that. He had worked hard to learn the ways of sorcery, and crafted each piece of knowledge to suit him since childhood. He had become unique, a scientist in his own right, but he was still in the shadow of Thor.

Bitterness returned to Loki at the memory of his family's betrayal. Only his mother had treated him as equal to Thor, and even she had kept the truth from him. Now he was powerless, after being a pawn for the Chitauri. Used and thrown out. Condemned by the man who had raised him. The humans had refused to accept him as their king, and sent him back to face the wrath of Odin... so why did this one woman... why did she make him want to try again?

Loki ran his fingers through his thick black hair, then chuckled. Somehow, he did not want to let go of this chance.

When Lacia awoke the following morning, she was momentarily surprised to find herself in her own bed, before she remembered what had happened the night before. She had an hour before she needed to be at uni, so as she made her breakfast, and sunk into the comfortable cushions on her sofa, she tried to think clearly about what to do. Loki was by no means boyfriend material, but then again he was also a charming and seductive lover. His past was not worth thinking about, but now? He had shown a few signs already of having changed. He had shown her that he was capable of caring still. Maybe it was worth giving him a chance? If she was going to go through with this, she thought, then she would have to pay close attention to him. She would have to look for the little signs that people mattered to him. She had no idea how he felt about her. Clearly he found her attractive, but what about her personality? Her soul? Did he care about those things? He had saved her from something horrible, but was he not just trying to earn brownie points for doing the right thing? She chose to wait, and see what happened.

As Lacia walked into the lecture room, she noticed several strange things. Firstly, Loki was already there, and secondly, so were all of the other students. Was she late? She looked at her watch. No, she was several minutes early. She frowned, and walked over to her seat. She nudged the person sitting next to her,

"Psst, why is everyone so early?" She whispered,

"Duh." The young man gestured to Loki, "Lecturer's awesome."

"Oh..." Lacia looked towards the man she had almost made love to the night before. "right."

Loki's lecture began with an introduction to semiotics. He knew that they had already covered this topic with Mark, but was concerned by their lack of enthusiasm. He wondered just how poor at teaching his predecessor had been. Instead of simply talking at them, he engaged them in an active discussion about specific films. He then turned on the projector and played the first five minutes of the film Blue Velvet. He asked the students questions, what was strange about the garden? What kind of people lived here? He had the video paused on an image of a typically American, white picket fence, with flowers growing in front of it. Some students commented on the conditions of the flowers, others on the use of a classic image. This scene was followed by a disturbing sequence of a man dying after suffering from a problem with his brain.

After going through, and analysing the whole clip, the students were intrigued rather than bored and tired of the clip. Some even wanted to go home and dissect the whole film. Loki suggested that they all watched American Beauty before his next lecture, so that they could have a group discussion about the all the signs used and why the different associations that the viewer has with them. He told them to focus particularly on the use of colour, camera angles and lighting, as well as the gesture and script acted out. Lacia had been so absorbed in the lecture, that she had almost forgotten her personal dilemma. She was about to go and confront Loki, in hope of finding out what he was thinking, wanting him to reassure her that he still wanted her, when another woman beat her to it. It was the same woman she had sat next to the day before, and seen at the club. She was clearly flirting with him, her Loki. How dare she. But then Lacia reminded herself that they were not technically in a relationship, and a little flirting could not cause any harm.

But then the woman touched him. She played with his top button, as if contemplating loosening his shirt. Lacia stood up involuntarily. Loki turned to look around, startled by the sudden movement. Lacia stood there awkwardly, but locked her gaze with his. She willed him to understand. He may have been on earth for a while, seen and heard many different and unfamiliar things, but Lacia was now scared that he would not know some of the most basic social standards. To her shock though, her turned back to the woman, and took a step back. He had taken a step back, for her. She sat down again, happy and also a little proud. The woman tried to advance again, but Loki gestured politely to the door. She looked taken aback, before she walked out.

Suddenly realizing she was the only student left in the room, Lacia stood up again. Loki reached her in just a few swift strides,

"Where would you like to go for lunch?" He asked her. Seemingly just as surprised by his own behavior. "Please say, not the cafeteria." he added.

"Uh..." Lacia stood flabbaghasted. "Uh... Anywhere but the cafeteria." She agreed that the food there was underwhelming.

"I could drive us into town. Costa perhaps?" Loki, in costa... the image was so surreal that Lacia burst out laughing. "Not Costa? Cafe Nero? Subway?" the final suggestion made Lacia reach for his shoulder as she was overcome by another fit of giggling,

"N- no Costa is great. I'ts just..." She finally managed to pull herself together. "Its just that I never imagined you would be keen to go somewhere so..."

"Normal? Casual?" He suggested,

"Casual." She nodded. Before she knew it, she found herself reaching up, and wrapping her arms around him. She pulled him into an embrace, before tilting him down so that she could kiss his forehead. Was that colour in his cheeks? She grinned, "Right, Costa, lets go!" She smiled and let him lead her to the staff carpark.

When they reached Loki's car. Lacia was not sure how to react. She placed one hand on the deep blue, metallic sheen of the bonnet. She had expected a sports car, or perhaps something less conspicuous, but she was forgetting that Loki was full of surprises. Lacia climbed up, into the Range Rover, before fastening her seatbelt. Loki climbed gracefully into the driver's seat before turning on the ignition and starting the car. How long had Loki been here? How had he had time to learn how to drive, buy a car, get insurance? She was so confused. He was a wonder to her, but here he was, driving her into town for lunch.

Author's note: Please leave a review with some suggestions and comments on my writing. I also apologize for the strange pace of this fanfic. It seems to keep fluctuating. I would like to make this as interesting as possible to all tips are welcome. I hope you are enjoying the story so far x