Over one thousand fucking views! Seriously? Good gracious.
If I've forgotten to send you a message to thank you for a story alert or a review I'm sorry I tried checking my emails on my phone and then deleted all of them without realising.
The morning started with a commotion. It started as any other usual Sunday did, Darcy planning on sleeping until noon and then buying make up online. She lay in her bed, curtains shut, a slow soothing playlist on her iPod lulling her into thinking it was going to be another wonderful day as long as Loki didn't try any funny business again and she was allowed a lie in.
No such luck.
Darcy didn't hear Loki walk into her room but if she had she would have noticed that it wasn't in his right mind. He was over-excited like he'd discovered something glorious at the ungodly hour of 10:23 on a Sunday. Loki wanted to make sure that he wasn't going mad and that what he saw was real and it wasn't some hallucination due to pizza or coffee or any other enticement of Earth (the smell of Darcy's hair for example). He knew he should have knocked but he couldn't wait! He felt the giddiness of a child and a thirst for knowledge he hadn't experience since he cast his first spell (turning Thor's tunic pink at a feast). He had never really seen Darcy's room except for the topless incident and why pause to appreciate the décor when he could have appreciated her? It was the same neutral tones as his however she had truly made it her own. There were band posters and a desk covered with papers and her laptop. Her trusty speakers taking pride of place on a bookshelf that looked like it was ready to collapse under the weight of a modest library. Last nights clothes were in a pile on the floor next to a hairdryer and a pair of straighteners.
The thing that took him by surprise were the framed photographs showing a very young, skinny awkward-looking Darcy. There were some with what looked like parents, some outside a large grand mansion, a lot with a group of teenagers; a pale girl with red and white hair, a boy with blue hair, a boy with red glasses and a copious amount of other teens. It was then he realised Darcy never really talked about having many friends and since there was the same group of people, gradually getting older in only one season of the year he assumed it was a case of only seeing them annually.
He looked down at Darcy and suddenly realised just how lonely her youth must have been. With her attitude and odd behaviour she would have undoubtedly been labelled as an outcast. The more he thought of her without the outward attitude the more he saw himself in her.
"Darcy" Loki thought it was best to start off quiet so he wouldn't startle her.
She groaned and rolled away from him.
Loki huffed in annoyance, "Darcy" he said it louder and more forcefully this time and only received gibberish as a reply. Now he remembered why she used to try his patience.
"For heaven's sake Darcy," he grabbed her shoulder to turn her towards him, shocking her out of her slumber. Her natural response was to turn and confront him. However her arm didn't agree with this plan as she swung it cracking him square in the nose. He made an odd noise which woke Darcy up, she took about 10 seconds to assess the situation and ran over to Loki and his newly burst nose. A slow but steady stream of blood was making its way down to his lip and he looked like a child who had just scraped his knee.
"Come on," she grabbed his hand and led him to the en suite. He was actually sniffling. She sat him down on the side of the bath and rummaged around for her first aid kit.
"Aren't you going to apologise?" he sat frowning.
"You shouldn't of been in my room and you're not the first person that's happened to." She soaked some cotton wool and started cleaning the blood that had started to dry, "Pinch the bridge and lean forward so you don't swallow any blood."
"I only wanted to ask you something," Loki was wondering if a bust nose was even worth the knowledge he wanted, "It was about something I saw on that television."
"Aren't you a little old for Sunday morning cartoons?" she smiled, trying her damnedest to make the best of the situation. She was sat in her polka dot pyjama bottoms and old Black Sabbath vest top, a Norse god was sat in her en suite with a bloody nose, a bloody nose that she had given him. He looked like he was really hurt and she felt terrible. She would make him pancakes as an apology.
"It was this thing with a man; he travelled around in a blue box. He saw the galaxy and it just got me thinking and I became unnerved," his eyes were cast down, ashamed to admit any form of defeat, especially one cultivated from the minds of a few stupid humans.
"Oh, that's Doctor Who, I'll explain it over breakfast." His nose had stopped bleeding and he smiled at her. There was something behind it, she wouldn't put her finger on it but there it was.
They adjourned to the living room where Loki resumed his position on the sofa and Darcy made him chocolate chip pancakes. It reminded her of when her little cousin came to stay except he said Thank You when he got his chocolate chip pancakes, Loki just sat looking slightly less miserable.
Well you did just sock him in the nose.
She tidied up and grabbed her laptop, checked the usual sites, found a new blog that looked promising, lusted over some floral Doc Martins and emailed Kitty. In an attempt to occupy her mind she ordered a few bottles of nail polish and a palette of eye shadow. She didn't really see the need, she always had painted nails out of boredom but she didn't really go out enough to need an array of coloured eye shadows; the problem was that since she lived in the S.H.I.E.L.D facility that meant she didn't need to pay rent or bills or even food, her copious student loans were even getting paid on time thanks to the department's financial advisor organising it for her. She had nothing to complain about and her financial situation was far less dire than other graduates. So she was sitting with this money, some of it went into savings, some covered her debt and she was left with an impressive amount; only issue being there was nothing to spend it on. Other graduates went out to parties or on vacation but since you needed friends to do that Darcy was screwed. Even if she did want to go out for the night, she would have to drive to the tiny town nearest the facility and not drink so that she could get back safely.
So she had enough money to be comfortable and yet nothing to spend it on and the facilities to have fun but not the means.
Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
Darcy jumped at the sound of Jane's personal ringtone, "How's the couple's retreat going? Ripped the stubble off his face yet?" Jane and Darcy didn't do Hello's.
"It's good we'll be back tomorrow night. Anything new happened?"
"Erm Rogue and a few people from the Mansion will be coming some time after Halloween on S.H.I.E.L.D business and they're staying in the apartment next to ours." They weren't permitted to share the same apartment after the stories of when Darcy last hung out with the mutants.
"Great you could use some fun, listen I need to go but Thor wants to talk," Jane barely finished her sentence before Thor had the silly communicative device in his steak of a hand, "Lady Darcy!" his voice always boomed when he missed her.
"Hey Thor how's the mini-vacation?"
"Darcy have you ever heard of such a thing as fondue? Genius." Thankgodhe'spretty. "Listen how is my brother? I almost didn't leave when he was finally out of his room but Jane started talking about refunds and reservations and such."
"He's doing good he helped me with some stuff and I introduced him to pizza," Donotmentionthatyou'veseeneachothertopless,thathecameontoyouandthatyoupunchedhimintheface.
"Tell him… Let him know that I am glad he is well. I must go now Jane's patience wears thin. Until tomorrow Darcy!"
"Goodbye Thor." The concern for his brother near broke Darcy's heart. It was so easy to forget that even though they are gods with who knows how much power and divinity they are still family, a troubled family but family nonetheless.
"Are they having a pleasant time?" Loki must have gotten bored of whatever was on television and decided to come and be social.
"Yeah they sounded happy, Thor was asking after you." For once Loki didn't flinch at the sound of his brother's name.
"Yes well I look forward to seeing him, it appears that our human lives will be too short to hold this grudge."
"What do you mean human lives?" Darcy didn't like the sound of this, she had a feeling she was peering into a rabbit hole and she couldn't decide if she wanted to fall or not.
"Well I doubt Odin will allow me back after what I did. I can still perform some infantile magic but that appears the extent. Thor doesn't want to leave Jane and I doubt she could continue her research on Asgard if she wanted to." Loki looked down at the floor, brow furrowed as if this was the first he'd thought of the scenario.
"Being mortal doesn't suck though! I mean Earth is fun when you have the cash and S.H.I.E.L.D totally has the cash. And maybe you could have a profession I bet you'd be a kick-ass lawyer and Coulson and Fury could easily get you trained without spending like seven years going through law school." She was cut short by Loki's cool hand on her shoulder.
"Darcy you don't need to sell me on Midgard life, I'm nothing if not resourceful. Frankly I think it would make an interesting change to know that at the end of this life they'll be the security of death." Loki wasn't going to waste his limited time with his ever-decaying body wishing it wasn't so or getting angry at his mortal fate.
She felt herself becoming upset over how fruitless his attitude had become. Wasn't this the Loki who had power to fierce and terrible that he didn't even need that stupid rainbow bridge to travel through the realms?
"Don't be sad for me you silly girl, I've lived for hundreds of your lifetimes." No wonder Doctor Who had freaked him out, strange and charming man who barely aged and was older beyond belief whose name would strike a shard of fear into the hearts of his enemies. He lifted her chin so she was looking into his eyes, "Now stop looking miserable and let's do something useful."
She shows him how to make a sandwich (chicken and stuffing), how to set the TiVo to record and how to make a playlist on iTunes, even though he didn't have a laptop or iPod.
For the rest of the afternoon they simply sat reading on the sofa with coffee listening to the playlist he's just made. It was an odd selection but there again he was new to the glory that was iTunes. There were a few Belle & Sebastian tracks, some from The Beatles, a few slow Motley Crue songs and quite a lot of acoustic; her favourite being a cover of Bad Romance that sounded so damn sexy it practically melted her clothes off.
Out of nowhere that familiar annoying sensation crept up her foot. She flexed her toes and tried banging it on the floor to no avail. Fuckingpinsandneedles.She got up and started hopping and dancing around trying to get the normal feeling back in her foot while Loki tried not to laugh as she stumbled around like a drunk Bambi on ice. He got up and steadied her while she slowed down and her foot went back to normal.
"Couldn't you have just used magic to make it stop instead of me making an ass out of myself?"
"My magic is too elegant to waste on silly little things." Loki was very protective over his powers and since they had weakened he didn't want to strain them. he couldn't bare it if it they wore out and he was left utterly and unquestionably human.
"Oh man up and do some magic." Darcy was determined.
Loki shot her a look of 'I warned you' and rubbed his hands together making a ball. Slowly, he opened and extended his tensed hands to reveal a cluster of moving wings in a deep shade of indigo. He waved his hands and the cluster separated showing a small swarm of butterflies that flew around the room in perfect formation. Darcy was delighted, giggling and exclaiming at their beauty. Loki beckoned them back and they flew around his hand and their numbers divided as he closed his hand around the remaining few and opened it showing a perfect porcelain ornament of a butterfly which he placed on the coffee table and waited for Darcy to stop looking so damned shocked.
When she eventually recovered she made a rather large and stupid mistake.
"Thor said you have a different magic you can use, something about Jotunheim and snow giants."
"They are Frost Giants and they are monsters. They are also my kin."
Darcy shut up, backpeddling would be useless and Loki was clearly angry. There was an unwritten rule that no one discussed Loki's heritage unless he brought the subject up which he never did. His veins felt like they were flowing with liquid silver he was so angry, but Darcy looked so pathetically human and miserable he couldn't very well unleash his fury on her without doing some permanent damage.
"Listen I can tell you're mad so I'm gonna go watch some TV in my room and you just shout if you need anything, okay?"
Darcy didn't cry at many things. When other girls went to pieces over American Idol and chick flicks Darcy saved her tears for things of importance. She was catching up with Doctor Who; the Thor situation meant she missed a lot of it on BBC America at the end of the summer. The Doctor was saving Amy by telling her to forget her faith in him. How he was vain and had led her by the hand to her death. Loki was probably sitting alone somewhere in the apartment. When she thought about it, the parallels between him and the Doctor were startling; you'd think Steven Moffat would have been involved somehow. She thought of how accepting he was that he would one day die.
"An ancient creature
Drenched in the blood of the innocent
Drifting in space through an endless shifting maze
For such a creature, death would be a gift."
That hit Darcy right in the chest. She didn't sob or become hysterical, she just allowed the steady stream of tears to make tracks down her face.
No wonder he's accepted being mortal.
She had of course read the myths and legends of the God of Mischief, the evil he had done and the cruelty he could posses. After a life like that no wonder he welcomed death.
Kind of like the Deathly Hallows.
Loki hadn't made a peep for over an hour so she assumed it was safe for her to venture out for coffee and maybe throw something in the oven for dinner. It was like being in a horror movie, she opened her door ridiculously quietly and slowly before looking around the corners for any signs of life. Seeing the all clear she tip-toed down the corridor to the kitchen and dithered around making coffee and trying to be quiet. There was practically nothing in to eat except some curly fries and popcorn which would have to do. She threw the fries onto an oven tray to bake and realised that her face was still wet from her little emotional episode, her skin was warm, her nose was stuffed and of course that was the moment she realised Loki was behind her.
"You've been crying." He didn't sound concerned or worried, he just stated the obvious.
"Sad episode of Doctor Who that's all." No one was allowed to see her cry since she started bawling in elementary school and Jimmy Dugon made fun of her, "Well I'll be back when the fries are done, you'll have to sort your own dinner out, I'll be in my room."
Before Loki could protest she whirled back to her bedroom only to emerge 20 minutes later to pick up her curly fries and popcorn. Back in the safety of her room she popped Predator into her DVD player and set herself up for a night of violence, spitting tobacco and yelling GET TO THE CHOPPA until she was hoarse.
Loki had never cooked before in his life. The gadgets and strange instructions confused him and his pride wouldn't allow him to get one of the agents, or worse Darcy, to come and help him. He would simply have to go hungry, that was the only way for it. He wanted to know why she had been crying. Well that was as good an excuse as anything to speak to her, maybe steal a handful of food.
He knocked and she invited him in, too involved in the movie to care about how she was trying to avoid him.
"Sit down and be quiet."
They sat in the dim light appreciating the frights and the gore and the gallons of fake blood. Loki loved it. He was mesmerised and when the credits rolled all he wanted to do was gab about what he had seen. He turned to Darcy to see her asleep, silent and peaceful as a child. A smile played on her lips as if she was having a pleasant dream. There they were, the God with the silly graduate asleep practically in his arms; if it wasn't an odd couple he didn't know what was. He rested his head on hers, taking in the scent of her hair and how when he shifted so he was lying next to her she tightened her grip on his shirt. He wrapped a blanket over her goosebumped form, conveniently sliding his arms around her in something that resembled a hug, or as close as the Frost Giant adopted son of a God with intimacy issues could get to a hug.