The file lay across the room, thrown onto the floor, pictures and documents spilling out its side, the grin of a woman still half visible in an especially large photo, partially obscured by the folder. Loki rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers.
Why. Couldn't. He. Get. Her. Out. Of. His Mind.
Loki clenched his fists, eyes squeezing shut, attempting to push thoughts of her away. Her laughter seemed to ring lightly inside his head, mocking him. He roared and shot to his feet, chair toppling over behind. Damn her!
He looked back to the folder, laying on the floor where he had thrown it in a fit of fury moments before. A corner of another photo, one he hadn't seen, peeked out. Loki let out a deep sigh of surrender, and walked over to it, his curiosity getting the better of him. Leaning down, he picked up the picture by its corner and stood up straight again, all in one fluid motion.
His eyes scanned the photo. A corner of his mouth started to twitch upwards a little. Finally, he was chuckling quietly. He shoved the photo into his pocket. He would keep that one.
"These will be your new chambers of residence." Thor spread his arms out in a wide arc, half-turning and smiling broadly, obviously proud.
Loki furrowed his eyebrows, surveying his surroundings; arms crossed. He frowned. "They are meager. Unfit for a god."
Thor grimaced.
Loki continued, "But they will do…" After a moment's pause, he even added, "Thank you." In a low whisper.
Thor grinned at him, dipping his head once for leave, then walked to the exit. He paused in the doorway.
"Don't be getting any ideas, Loki…" He warned.
Loki waved his hand dismissively. "I am aware of the consequences." He iterated.
Thor nodded briskly again, before closing the door behind him. Loki immediately turned to face his "chambers", if they could be called them. They were truly meager, an "apartment", they were called. Tsk tsk tsk. This would not do. Some… Changes needed to be made.
Darcy sat in her swivel chair at her desk, her head drooping, resting on one hand. Her other hand drummed artlessly on the wood of the desk. Her eyes were blandly focused on the blank white sheet of paper on the desk, waiting expectantly to be filled with a shopping list.
"Is this what you do all day?" A voice suddenly asked, extremely close to her. Darcy shrieked and pushed back violent from the desk on impulse, the wheels of her chair caught on a roll in the rug and toppling backwards.
A firm hand grasped onto the top of her chair, holding her suspended in the air. She was practically horizontal, looking up as a pair of emerald green eyes peered down at her from above.
"Do you always fall a lot?" He mused.
"Shut up." Darcy growled. "And stop doing that!"
"What?" Loki leaned further over the chair, his face hanging over hers, upside-down in her point of view.
"Showing up out of nowhere and scaring the hell out of me." Darcy shifted in her chair, uncomfortable with him being so close.
"You're scared of me?" He seemed to toy with that in his head, and Darcy thought he looked far too amused, for either of their good. He gently pushed her chair back up to its upright position, and Darcy immediately jumped out, clambering to her feet.
"Why are you here?" She ignored the feeling of her heart pounding against her chest.
"I came… To apologize…" Loki stood up straight too, staring down at her. His eyes seemed to be full of regret, but Darcy thought she saw of a hint of something other than that. Something lighter, more playful. Something in the way his eyes almost sparkled, catching the warm, yellow light thrown off her lamp. She lost her train of thought, words caught in her throat.
After a minute, deciding he already thought she was completely crazy, she snapped herself out of it.
"A- Apologize? Wait. For what?" She cleared her throat, trying to focus her gaze on his face in general instead of his eyes. Well that was a huge help, Darcy thought sarcastically.
"I want to apologize…" Loki began, he reached down and held up her hand. Darcy's breath hitched. Damn her body. Damn these stupid reactions it had. Damn the effect he had on her.
Suddenly, the door banged open. "Darcy, reinforce your door, hon, a paper clip can pick the lock." Tony Stark walked in, his hands busy with a paper bag. "I brought shwarma!" He announced, then finally looked over.
"Oh. Busy. Sorry." He hastily walked out, door closing behind him. Darcy kept staring at the door. After a few seconds, the door banged open again.
"LOKI?!" Tony said in disbelief. Loki glowered at him. Darcy turned bright red.
Tony looked back to Darcy, then to Loki, and back and forth over a few times, almost as if a ping-pong match was going on between them. Finally, his eyes fixed on Darcy's hand, currently enveloped in Loki's.
"Are you… Are you… Serious? Are you kidding me?" Tony seemed to be torn in between shocked and amused to the point of tears.
"No, it's not what you think." Darcy began, drawing her hand away from Loki's. but was immediately cut off by Tony, who held a palm up to stop her.
"No, no. No explanation needed." He pressed his lips together. "Uh… We'll talk tomorrow, okay, Darcy?" He backed out, and just before closing the door, called out, "Have fun with Reindeer Games. Even his armor shows that he's one… horny guy." Tony started laughing like crazy, then finally closed the door.
Darcy growled. She turned back to Loki, who had a completely blank expression. "Uh… So… After that, erm, weird interruption… Will you tell me why you're apologizing again." She flushed.
"I apologized…" Loki said, his tone even, as his hand swiftly reclaimed hers.
"...Because I saw you naked." He finished.
Darcy abruptly drew her hand back. "You WHAT?"
"I saw you naked." Loki shrugged.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Darcy shrieked. "Wha- How- WHEN?!"
"I believe you were taking a bath."
"WHA- YOU…"
Loki started laughing. Then, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a photo, still chuckling. Darcy grabbed it from him, eyes roaming over it. Her expression lost some of the fury.
In the photo, was a happy, bouncing, giggling baby girl in a bathtub, half covered with bubbles, even on her silky dark brown hair.
The corner of Darcy's mouth lifted slightly.
"Am I forgiven, then?" His voice jerked her back from lost childhood memories.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "No." She said the word carefully and measuredly. Of course he wasn't forgiven. First he scares her by showing up out of nowhere, then scares her even more by saying he saw her naked, when really it was just a baby photo. And now on top of that, Tony thinks she just prances around hand in hand with supervillains that were also gods that had maybe destroyed entire cities. No, he was totally not forgiven!
"No?" Loki asked, tilting his head to the side.
"No. Now get out." Darcy tried to maintain a firm tone.
"Well, that's too bad, because I came here asking a favor." His voice seemed to be as smooth as silk.
"A… Favor?"
"Yes. A favor." He repeated slowly, as if she was mentally incompetent. As if! The nerve! "Would like me to explain what a favor is?"
"I know what a favor is, Mr. Smarty-Pants!" Darcy snapped back. "What kind of favor…?" Darcy was curious now, but still on her guard.
"Well. As you may know, Thor has found me an apartment." Loki began.
"So maybe you should stay there instead of barging into other people's places." Darcy muttered underneath her breath.
Loki ignored her, continuing, "But it is not… Up to standard, shall we say? So, I am in the process of transforming it with, well, with my powers, of course."
"What does this have to do with me? And I thought you had all your toys- excuse me, powers- taken away." Darcy interrupted.
Loki held out a finger. "I'm getting there. And no, not all my powers got taken away, remember? I believe I spilt Fanta on you when we first met."
"I remember." Darcy grumbled. "You owe me a shirt."
"Anyway, so with what meager magic I have left, it will… Take some time… To modify the apartment to suit my… well, er, needs. So, I need a place to… Reside… While that happens. And I'd really rather not spend another night with Jane and Thor." Loki rolled his eyes.
"You want to stay? Here? In my apartment. With me." Darcy crossed her arms. Nuh uh. Hah, what did he think of himself? Or her?
"No way, bub." She said. "Not a chance."
Loki nodded. "Very well. But think about it. As for tonight, I can reside in Thor's chambers."
"Yeah, why don't you 'reside'", Darcy put air-quotation marks around that word, "in Thor's apartment for the rest of the time you're waiting to have your apartment pretty-fied. Now, you should leave."
Loki bowed his head. "Goodnight, Miss Lewis." He walked to the door and shut it behind him. Darcy turned around, ready to start walking in the opposite direction, when a chill cut through the atmosphere and she stopped.
A whisper carried into the air.
"Think about it…"