"What's wrong?" Clint asked as he nudged Natasha's leg with his foot. She'd been sulking ever sense her talk with Candy. She sighed, "Nothing." She had done a great job making small talk with the girl, making quick friends with her before easing the subject over to her goal topic. Unfortunately she would not budge on her sexuality. She was into men. Period. Never even had a stray thought of doing anything with another woman. Although she did learn the girl was into yaoi. And she was actually qute relieved at that. She thought she was the only one until Candy explained what the word meant and that there were a lot of fans of it.
Bruce gave her a knowing smirk that she responded to with a glare, "What?" "Nothing." He told her before turning back to the movie, still smiling. He knew. He knew what she'd gone to talk to her about. Knew what the answer would be. He had asked her, himself a while ago. Hell, they weren't really related so what was the problem? She was a good girl. She refused to do anything with anyone until she was sure that's who she wanted to be with. She was twenty three when she'd been infected. Just three years younger than himself. He still had no idea why they'd settled on uncle and niece instead of brother and sister. Perhaps because she looked so young and always would.
Yea, Fury wanted them to keep an eye on her and not let her out without supervision, but who really cared what Fury wanted? She went for a walk while they watched the movie and ate dinner. It was a nice night. The stars slightly visible in the clear sky from the lights of the city. It made her miss her home. The small town with clean air and bright stars that seemed to shine through even the cloudiest of nights. Looked like Loki was trying to find a way to get in touch with her without anyone else noticing. She smiled to herself as she'd unintentionally snuck up behind him. "What'ca doin'?"
She giggled as he jumped and spun around looking angry. Nope, he didn't recognise her out of costume. "None of your business, Mortal." He began to stalk away when she cought his attention, using the same quiet, polite tone as when they'd met. "So you didn't come to see me then, Loki?" He turned back to her and looked her over a bit more carefully this time. He knew that voice. It had been haunting him sense that night along with her face. No, this couldn't possibly be the same woman. "And you are?"
"Candy. Dr Banner's niece. I'm just not wearing the costume and makeup tonight." She explained as he took a closer look. "She had blue eyes." "Contacts." "White hair." "Wig. Do you really think I could do my hair like that myself or that any of those guys could do that? I don't go to hair solons, ever." "Her skin was lighter." "Makeup." He laughed, "No one putes makeup uppon their arms and hands." She gave him a sweet smile, "Have you ever seen special efects makeup work?"
He looked at her confused. What the hell was she talking about? Candy laughed at the confusion that showed clearly on his face and grabbed him by the hand, leading him down the streat, "Come on, I'll show you!" One of the people she'd accedentally consumed that morning was an artist that was going to help with a photoshoot tonight and this was the perfect excuse to go and let out a bit of pent-up creativity.
Good thing was, she'd been hired over the phone and was only supposed to be an assistant so no one knew what she looked like. Candy easily got them in, saying Loki was her assistant and acting as though she knew exactly what she was doing. Like she was one of the professionals that were meant to be there with helpers. The models were drooling over the god as they scurried around to get their hair and makeup done before getting dressed. Loki was enjoying himself more than he thought he would just getting to watch the women wander around in nothing but their undergarments.
Candy grabbed a model that was waiting for a free artist to do her makeup and got busy. The theme was Elementals and it seemed no one wanted to take on Earth. Loki watched as she glued some pieces onto the model, giving her pointed ears before applying the base makeup. A ritch gold to highlight the model's dark skin was applied with an airbrush over her entire body followed by the more detailed work upon her face. She was given contacts to turn her eyes green before she drew swirling lines of green from her eyes, looking like vines that traveled across her face.
She went ahead and had the woman put the costume on before continuing, adding vines and leaves that swirled up her limbs, somehow looking as though they were actually growing from her skin. Candy found the green wig to be a bit much and used the model's natural hair instead. Weaving more vines into it to hold it into an interesting style. When he finally took his eyes off her and her work he noticed all other work had come to a halt as everyone stared at her.
She didn't even notice, she was so absorbed in what she was doing. Her work was quick and efficiant. Having much of the detail on her model before the others could even finish their foundations. She took a step back to survey her work before deciding on something and heading off to another part of the studio, returning quickly with a batch of flowers that she wove into the outfit. What was nature without a few flowers? She finally took notice of the stares once she deemed her work worthy and smiled at them shyly. Loki had trouble not laughing at the scene.
He had no idea what the girl did with most of her time, but he was sure it wasn't this. Yet here she was, making the 'professionals' look like children playing in their mother's makeup. There was a flurry soon after as they all rushed the girl, demanding advice and tips to make their work look better. Eventually they'd settled down and decided to just let her do all the makeup while one of them recorded it and sent the video to the others to study afterward. They were on a scedual, after all.
"Sorry that ended up being more of a mess than I thought it would." Loki looked down at the girl that now walked beside him, heading back toward Stark Tower. "Quite alright, my dear. It was entertaining and quite educational. Tell me, if you really are Candy, what happend at the restraunt?" She gave him a sweet smile, "We danced to The Four Sesons: Spring by Vivaldi after the violinist replaced a string that broke durring the previous song, then we were interupted by Steve and you had some kind of duplicate fight the Avengers whilst we spoke in the kitchen where Clint and Natasha had asked me to wait. You gave me a beautiful white rose after promising to contact me, then left."
"How may I get in touch with you again without your.. friends.. finding out? I highly doubt they would be happy with you fraternizing with the enemy." She handed him a slip of paper with her number on it as she gave him a warm smile, "Call me anytime." Once she'd dashed off to cross the street the smile fell from his face. There, watching him from the entrance of the tower was her uncle.
"Enjoy yourself?" He asked his niece as she huged him, "Sure did." He gave her a smile and lead her inside, glancing back to see Loki had already left. "I'm glad." He wasn't worried about her seeing Loki. If that's what made her happy then so be it. She had a good head on her shoulders and could take care of herself. She wouldn't put anyone in danger but herself and that was fine. She was tougher than the Other Guy both phisically and mentally. The others would be upset, though if they found out. He wouldn't tell them. It wasn't his place.
Candy was about to turn out the lights and try to sleep when her phone rang. "Hello?" "Is he upset we were together?" Loki. "He trusts me and my decisions." "That doesn't answer the question, my dear." "He isn't upset. But the others likely would be." "So he didn't tell them?" "Nope." "Wonderful. Can I see you again tomorrow?"
A/N: YAY! A review! I will warn y'all now: characters from other fandoms will begin showing up starting in the next chapter. I'll try to post where they're from in the A/N at the end of the chapter.
Again: Faves and reviews = updates! and Huggles and cookies and dibs on the first few Loki clones mentioned in the A/N of the first chapter!