I was abruptly awoken as Loki pushed me out of his grasp; I had slept flush against him all through the night. It was nice while it lasted, I suppose.
"What's the next part of your brilliant plan?"
Scratching my head, I shrugged my shoulders in response. I didn't have step two planned because I never expected to actually be able to break him free.
"I don't know." I said it as casually and coolly as I possibly could seeing that Loki was growing more and more impatient with me every second that passed.
"What do you mean 'you don't know'?! Did it not dawn in your meager little mind that this is something that should have been planned out before hand?"
I stood and turned to where he was pacing back and forth, my annoyance competing with his.
"I didn't have it planned out because I never expected to get this far! I was making it up as I went along. I never planned to actually be able to free you and I sure as hell didn't plan on getting shot with an arrow."
Stopping dead in tracks he facing me, a dangerous look crept over his features as his hands landed on my shoulders shaking me lightly.
"This was your idea Eira, and now you are going to finish it. Now think what you want to do next."
Breathing in I began. "Seeing as we can't just stay here in Asgard now, I think we should go back to Earth. We can stay at my house and I'll explain everything to Tony, he should be able to keep the Avengers and SHIELD for that matter off our trail."
Loki's nose crinkled at the mention of Tony's name. "You mean the Man of Iron?"
"Yes Loki, that Tony. Now how do we get back to Midgard?"
"I need you to picture your home, I can do the rest."
So I did, in my mind I painted the picture of my house and two story, three bedroom comfortable, cozy house. Loki placed an arm around my waist once more and again that gut wrenching feeling spread as a familiar green mist engulf the two of us. My feet hit solid ground again, better yet solid carpet. He had brought us to the middle of my living room, everything still the way I left it; my knees nearly gave way and Loki had caught me right before I could fall. My hero I said this in my mind, with a really thick southern drawl. Immediately I couldn't contain the laughter, Loki scowled at me before inquiring why I was laughing like a madman.
"Nothing, it's just I am so getting fired for this. And we need to get you out of those clothes."
I motioned up and down his body at the leather and metal get up; all he was missing was the ridiculous head gear. Loki feigned a look of disgust, and then slowly a seductive smirk formed. "Why Lady Eira I would have never imagined you to be that type of woman."
I felt the heat rising in my cheeks as I looked away, flustered and amused at how he had taken my words.
"No, no Loki. I meant we need to go shopping. Your current style isn't really going to blend very well maybe if it was 1502, but it's not so... you get the point. Follow me please Mr. I-tried-to-take-over-the-world. "
He followed close on my heel like a puppy as I entered my room; I began digging through my closet bringing out a pair of jeans and white V-neck. "Here, these should fit you well enough until we go shopping."
He took the clothes from me, lifting his brow in a questioning manner. "May I inquire as to why you have men's clothing on hand; surely they do nothing for your figure."
Haha, real smooth Loki. "They were my ex's, lots of drinks and tons of bad decisions really."
He didn't remain on the subject any longer.
"Look, I am in dire need of a shower and to get out of these clothes so if you would be so kind as to show yourself out; the guest room is down the hall on the right."
Surprisingly he followed my orders really well, even shutting the door behind him. Quickly I stripped down and turned on the shower, letting the water heat up. I huffed as a knock came from the opposite side of my bathroom door; wrapping a towel around me I cracked the door open to see no one else but Loki, a strangely embarrassed look on his face as he had the jeans on and his Asgardian armor still on top.
"What is it Loki?"
"You see, I can't reach the buckle on my back for the chest plate and my powers are what I believe you mortals say 'running on E.'"
Stepping back into my room he turned around and my hands went to work unbuckling the straps holding his armor in place. I finish and shooed him back out of my room returning to my hot, relaxing shower only hoping that Loki wouldn't destroy the house while unsupervised. I walked into the living room, dressed in jeans and a tank top, toweling off my damp hair, Loki was sprawled out on the couch asleep a book resting on his chest. He looked adorable while sleeping, the exact opposite of how he was awake. He looked peaceful and at ease, lips slightly parted, his long legs hanging off the end of the couch and a few strands of hair fallen out of place. Seeing he wasn't up to any mischief I turned to finish getting ready.
The mall was packed and I had told Loki that it wasn't going to be too bad, of course it was horrible. People in general were horrible. He stayed close behind me as I led him through the maze of angry shoppers towards the first store.
"See anything you like?" He flipped through a few racks of graphic tees, a rather distasteful look at what he was seeing.
"I do not see why I could not simply keep wearing my clothing; these Midgardian garbs are quite distasteful."
"Look, the only way this has a shot of working is if you try to blend in and I don't know if you haven't noticed but we don't walk around in leather and metal. So, let's try a different store."
Loki wasn't finding a single thing that appealed to him besides a green scarf, but he didn't need a scarf, he needed normal clothes. We walked into the men's section of JCPenny and I took it upon myself to start picking clothes for him since he obviously had no desire to do so. I picked up a pair of dark wash jeans holding them up.
"Loki come here."
He walked over and I held the pants to his waist, well I knew they would be long enough at least.
"Hold these."
Soon I had piled up at least ten different pairs of jeans, each one a different wash or style and he had actually managed to pick out a few shirts; naturally they were green and black with a white one thrown into the mix. I pushed him towards the fitting room.
"Try them on, and ahh, I'll be just be waiting out here." Did I want to see him model off the jeans? Of course, who in their right mind would want to see that, but I had not shown that nor did I request to see the articles of clothing on him. So when an exasperated groan came out of the stall I frowned and question what was bothering him.
"I look ridiculous in these jeans."
"Now come on, you can't look to bad. Let me see."
Reluctantly he opened the dressing room door and stepped out wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans, a lump caught in my throat as I examined him, he even had pulled on a white button up and had the sleeves rolled up. He looked fine, really fine. I brushed off the thoughts and replied using my strongest voice.
"Loki you look fine, now hurry up I'm hungry."
The stack of clothes was placed on the counter at the checkout. All in all it hadn't been too bad, but never in my life had I imagined a man could be so peculiar about the things he wore. He ended up with one pair of black dress pants, three button ups each in a different color, five pairs of jeans, plenty of basic tees in his favorite color, the lounge pants I had insisted we get and pair of swim trunks. He practically beamed when I finally agreed to his scarf, why he would need one in the summer I still didn't know.
"That brings your total to $203.69, cash or credit?"
"Cash." I knew a credit card swipe could be risky so I stuck to good old fashion hard money.
"Have a great day!"
I smiled while grabbing the bags, "You too."
We started navigating back through the mall when I decided to do a little shopping for myself.
"Loki, hold these for a second. I'll be right back.
I bounded off to Victoria's Secret, we were going to be spending a lot of time at my house and I wasn't going to let my pool go to waste so I needed a new bathing suit. Skimming the choices I settled on a solid black bikini and raced to the register checking out in a flash.
Loki stood outside the store eyeing the mannequins and what they ; I walked up to him laughing at his expression.
"What in the nines would you buy in that store?"
"I bought a bathing suit for you information now come on, I'm absolutely famished."