Darcy carried on rubbing away the smeared blood, blinking the urge to sleep out of her eyes. She met Loki's eyes on occasion, only to find him already staring at her curiously. She couldn't help but consider whether he was planning her demise or something else entirely.
Loki, in fact, was not planning how best to dispose of the surprisingly…pleasant mortal. That fact in and of its self should have made him wonder just how high his fever had really gotten. But it didn't. The pain had drained him of virtually all vitality, hardly leaving enough for the god to even bother caring about his new found interest in this particular mortal. He found himself studying her, intently memorizing each faucet of her features. 'Distraction' was the only explanation he offered the raging part of his mind. Brunette waves framed her face, the darkness of her hair somehow setting off her eyes which he had duly noted were their own unique shade of bright blue. His eyes moved on, almost immediately stopped short by her lips. Full, almost heart-shaped lips, that never seemed to close or cease their talking.
Darcy had been growing steadily more and more uncomfortable under Loki's scrutinizing stare. His eyes had spent the majority of the last twenty minutes roving over her face, but surprisingly never moving lower than that. She had cleaned up his arms to the best of her ability and carefully wrapped the more injured of his wrists, every part of his body that was left uncovered by his green and gold tunic. She cleared her throat after a few minutes of stoically letting him analyze her, drawing his attention in the least painful way she could think of.
"Yes?" he acknowledged wearily, blinking up at her lazily.
"Take your clothes off." She ordered forwardly.
"I beg your pardon?" he raised an eyebrow in surprise. Darcy sighed in annoyance.
"Clothes. Off." She repeated. "I have to get a look at the rest of your injuries." She explained, pushing her hair back and out of her eyes. Loki hesitated, the same latent fear filling his eyes that proved to Darcy just how much he hurt. "Sorry." She glanced away.
"Your apologies are unnecessary." He replied, easing a deep breath into his chest.
"You can ask for help, you know." She noted as she watched him struggle to sit up.
"I do not require help from a mortal." He shot back angrily. Darcy rolled her eyes at his dramatics and made a show of leaning back to watch. "Kærligheten til alle far regler!" he cried through gritted teeth, his arm flying up to brace his chest as he pushed himself upright.
"I offered." She defended, sympathy clouding the intended snark. His burning green eyes flashed to hers impatiently. His intact arm moved from his chest to unbutton the clasps holding his cloak together at the front.
Darcy blinked.
She blinked again.
Her jaw dropped in sync with the god's shirt and again, she blinked.
A low whistle blew past her teeth and Loki smirked. Women had gawked at him before but none had been as impressed with his physique as this one mortal girl was. Especially those who had ever laid eyes on his brother before. And he knew for a fact that Darcy had. He had seen it in her eyes when she had first seen them after they had landed. For a reason that he had no desire to identify, this realization made her awe all that much more…intriguing. His breathing faltered as he did his best to straighten his posture so that she could get a better look at the black and purple bruises peppering his skin, undoubtedly covering up more than a few broken ribs. She motioned for him to lean forward, and she pulled his bare chest against her shoulder, forcing him to brace himself against shoulder with a groan.
"Quick question," she drawled. "What's the shiny stuff in your back?" she asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well, taking into consideration the excruciating pain its causing, I'm going to rightfully assume its shards of uru." He replied tightly.
"Oo-ra-what now?" she replied dryly.
"Uru. An ore which we have on Asgard. It's what Thor's hammer, Odin's spear, Calder's staff, and essentially all other weapons on Asgard, are constructed from." He explained nonchalantly. "Its commonly found on Niflheim and is therefore not a Aesir mineral. Hence, the reaction my body is showing to it."
"Calder… As in-" she realized softly.
"Yes. As in the man in charge of my punishment." He confirmed darkly.
"Oh." She muttered. "Well, um, I should probably get it out." She stuttered. He nodded sharply against her shoulder.
She reached behind her and set a metal petri dish on the couch's back rest, hesitantly testing the weight of the tweezers in her small and slightly shaking fingers.
"This might hurt." She warned carefully, eyeing him nervously.
"I assure you, I have had worse, Darcy." He replied easily. She averted her gaze and clenched her fists around the metal tool to still the shaking. "I trust in your abilities. You've done well." Darcy stared blankly, surprise leaking into her blue eyes. "Thus far." He added rudely. She nodded sardonically, smirking.
"Lean forward, Trix." She demanded, stifling a yawn behind her hand. He stiffly leaned against her shoulder, shutting his eyes against the impending pain.
"I am unversed in that term." He punctuated the statement with a whimper stifled in Darcy's shoulder as she dug the tweezers in his back.
"It's the name of a rabbit that's kinda like a symbol for this breakfast food." She muttered into his ear.
"Why…would breakfast…need a…symbol? Valhalla." He groaned, fingers clenching painfully into Darcy's arm. She yelped.
"To get kids to buy the product." She continued as she dug pieces of metal out of his back.
They went on like that until each shard of uru was removed and dropped into the metal dish with a twang. She taped gauze over the deepest gouges and helped him lean back against the arm rest. She cleared the contents of the first aid kit out of the immediate area, and knelt down beside the couch. Loki watched her eyelids flutter, guilt piercing his heart again.
"You should sleep, Miss Lewis." He prompted.
"Darcy." She yawned. "Just…just Darcy." She pillowed her head on her arms that were folded on the couch cushions and fell asleep almost immediately. Loki's lips twitched upwards in the beginning of a smile before he wiped all traces off of his face.
What trickery was this mortal using against him that could possess him to feel something, if it were anything which he was adamantly refusing to admit, for her. He had become acquainted with this woman less than three hours ago and she was already making her way under his skin.
His mind was more advanced than many, even by Asgardian standards and he couldn't rap his head around it, nor could he come up with a solution.
Thor and Jane staggered into the living room, Thor's muscled arm thrown over his small girlfriend's shoulder only for both of them to stop short at the sight of Darcy using a shirtless Loki's arm as a pillow.
"I suppose I can explain the circumstances after they have gotten a sufficient amount of rest." Thor hedged, looking down at Jane. She giggled quietly and then stopped abruptly.
"He is not allowed anywhere near her." Jane snarled suddenly.
"Agreed." Thor laughed his booming laugh and led his woman back to the bedroom they had just emerged from.
ALL DONE LOKI HURTAGE.
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