The construction of the new machine was taking far longer than any of them would have liked, but as Tony kept saying, patience was a virtue. Too bad it was something Loki Laufeyson was seriously lacking in. It had been an entire two months since Loki and Britney had found those blueprints and the machine was still only partially constructed. Of course, Loki had occupied his time with trying to break out of his own walls and let Britney in, but it seemed patience was a virtue when it came to that as well. To say the two had gotten closer was an understatement, they'd been practically inseparable and every now and then Loki would break down and tell her a few things about himself, her reciprocating and the event from the library would repeat itself.
The problem was that what had taken Emily and Thor three weeks to accomplish still hadn't happened with this pair, they still weren't together. Britney wanted it, oh how badly she wanted it, but she could now officially say that she knew Loki, and she knew better than to make a move before he was ready. Essentially this meant it was him that would have to make the official leap from platonic friend to boyfriend, if he by some sort of miracle came to terms with the fact that that was what he wanted. Loki was working on it, he really was, and as it neared the anniversary of the night they met, he thought he would finally tell her that he wanted to court her. Loki couldn't say whether or not what he felt was love or merely deep friendship, but it was no matter to him, it was still the most he'd ever cared for another. Loki knew that it mattered to her though, he could see it in her eyes when she looked at Emily and Thor, the jealously. That was why he knew that courtship was the next step, he'd find out if he was in love with her or not through that, because there was simply no other way. He couldn't bear for another day to go by where she was just as jealous of what his brother had as he was.
For an entire morning Britney and Loki were almost completely on the same page. Loki wanted to date her, she wanted to date him, and you'd think that would be enough for two people to finally go after one another, but of course, as it always seemed to be with these two, it wasn't. Loki walked into her bedroom that morning and crawled into bed with her, stroking her face gently until her eyes began to flutter open.
"Good morning, Fair One. Did you sleep well?" Britney giggled and tried to hide under her covers.
"Don't look at me; I'm hideous when I wake up in the mornings!" Loki scoffed playfully and jerked the covers back.
"Britney Alaine Erhardt, don't you lie to me. You're the cutest little thing in the mornings. Like a little troll baby with your hair messy like that." He teased, earning a light smack as she burrowed further into her sheets.
"See? I'm a ugly as a troll." Loki sighed and went under after her, pulling her against his chest and nibbling on her neck.
"If you were a troll, my dear, would an Asgardian prince be after your affections?" Britney snickered and laced her fingers with his, giving them a squeeze.
"So Thor seeks my affections?" Loki tried and failed not to chuckle.
"Ouch, I'm hurt, maiden." He pulled her on top of him and softly captured her lips, aching to ask her the question burning under his skin.
"I'm sorry, my king, how shall I make it up to you?" She whispered, nuzzling into his neck. Loki was about to respond with "Well being my girlfriend would be a good start." But there was a knock on the door before he could even get the first word out. As if an unspoken promise to her that he'd ask when he returned, he pulled her into a deep kiss before getting up to answer the door.
"What in the name of Odin do you want, Thor, I am kind of in the middle of something." He snapped, folding his arms across his chest and glaring heavily at his brother. Thor peeked inside her room and caught her trying to comb her messy hair out with her fingers, still wrapped in her sheets in nothing but a baby pink nightgown waiting on Loki to return.
"Ah were you and Lady Britney frolicking intimately in the sac, hm?" Loki sputtered a little, looking from Britney to the floor.
"No, Thor, not anything like that you perverted little buffoon, what do you want?!" He spat bitterly, only growing more irritated as Thor burst into laughter.
"Never fret brother, I'm only joshing. I came to tell you that Tony called, he has finished a rather large piece to the machine today, I thought you'd be happy to hear." Loki's face turned red.
"Only a piece? How long does it take to make—ugh this is madness!" Thor put his face in his hands.
"Loki, the man is working as fast as he can. I personally don't understand this obsession of yours to make people remember, do you honestly want your lady to remember all the terrible things that you've done?" And just like that, Thor ruined everything. One little sentence had torn away any and all hope there was that Loki was finally going to ask Britney out, no, he'd killed it.
"I…" He trailed off and turned to the woman he'd just about asked to court him, watching her sit innocently on the edge of her bed, mumbling untranslatable words as she flipped through her diary, which she'd confided in him one night that she'd written completely in Elvish so no one could understand it. His little nerd, and oh how he was falling in love with her. She was too good for him, and as much as he hated to put her through it all again, he just couldn't stay with her. He couldn't stay and love her more, only to have her turn away from him when she remembered everything he'd once dreamed this realm would remember. He and she were simply not meant to be.
"Thor could you…could you give us a minute? Alone?" Thor looked a little confused, not really realizing how much his words had affected his brother, but he nodded and left the room quickly. Loki shut the door and walked over to his love, oh his little love with his favorite brown eyes, and the smile he'd surely miss when he departed from here. But what other choice did he have? He didn't belong here. She looked up at him and smiled her most delicate smile, reaching out for his hand.
"Loki, can I ask you something?" Loki's heart was breaking, his eyes filled with tears because he knew how fragile she was and how she'd take this, she had become his best and only friend these last two months, and this is the last thing he ever wanted to say to her.
"What is it, my angel?" His voice was a ghost of a whisper and the term of endearment that he called her so naturally had un-willfully slipped out. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, but Britney didn't seem to notice, as she was looking at her hands, something he'd noticed she did when she was nervous.
"Loki, I think you know by now that you're someone very close to me. I was just wondering if…you felt anything towards me as more than a friend." Britney couldn't breathe, part of her knew this was the wrong move, but all that kissing had driven her nearly mad, she had to know. Loki memorized the way her fair, soft skin felt in his hand as he clutched it for what he thought would be the last time, and then released it, turning from her as to not see her face when he said the evil words on his tongue.
"No." He lied.
"I don't even like you as a friend, and you know what else? I wish we'd never met. You're a stupid and immature little girl, and I was wrong to think there could be anything between us." There was an almost tangible silence and Loki snuck a peak at her briefly, which was definitely the wrong move. Her face was completely void of emotion except for the expression written in her eyes, pure loneliness and utter sadness.
"I don't believe you. You've said all this before, and yet you came back for me. It's a defense mechanism, Loki, you think people get too close and then you shut them out. You can't keep doing that to people, not the people that love you the most, or you'll only further the loneliness of yourself and everyone around you." Britney wanted to smack herself…she'd spoken the forbidden word without even meaning too, the "L" word. Loki flinched, screwing his eyes closed and clinching his fists. Damn her for being right.
"You're more pathetic than I imagined. I hate you, can't you understand that?" Britney laughed coldly, something that in no way sounded natural to Loki.
"No, I don't understand. I don't understand how you can kiss me one moment and hate me the next, you are a liar!" She screamed, walking to him and forcing him to look at her. Loki's eyes were betraying him and he knew it, he could see the way they made the ice in her own soften. He choked down the bile rising in the back of his throat, his disgust for himself and his remorse, and shook his head at her.
"Namarie." He whispered, using what little Elvish she'd taught to him. Britney had known that was the one word she should have never taught him—farewell. No, Britney was not going to let him walk out on her again, no one throws her out twice, it wasn't happening. This time, it would be her that walked away.
"Amin feuya ten' lle, ego mibo Orch!" She spat, tears spilling over as she pushed him hard and ran from her bedroom. Loki, a little bewildered, went and looked for one of her fantasy books under her bed, the one that held some translations for that language.
"You disgust me…go kiss an Orc. Well, I don't know what an Orc is, but I can guess that isn't pleasant." He mumbled, running a hand through his hair and wiping away a few stray tears. He wished he hadn't had to hurt her. It wasn't very long at all before Emily was barging into the room.
"What in the name of all that is holy did you do to her?! She refuses to speak English, Loki, and she hasn't been stuck in dork-language mode since our senior year when her last boyfriend cheated on her with half the cheer squad on her birthday!" Loki shot her a tight lipped smile.
"It's none of your concern." Emily grabbed him roughly by his hair.
"Excuse me? No, this is every bit of my concern; she got in her car and drove off screaming about wanting to get wasted." Loki's eyebrows rose.
"I thought she wasn't speaking English." Emily rolled her eyes.
"She wasn't, dick bag, the last time someone hurt her like this she spoke the damn language for a year, I had to learn to at least half way speak Nerd." Loki's eyes darkened and he yanked her hand from his hair.
"Don't speak of her as if she's a burden to you." Emily's anger had reached a boiling point, but she was unable to do anything but walk away for fear that she'd actually kill him.
"Burden to me? If anyone acts as if she's a burden, it's you." She spat, stalking from the room and asking Thor to hold her. Loki walked to the door, overhearing Thor ask if Britney would be okay.
"I don't think so, Thor, I really don't. She's not a pretty drunk, I'd go after her to make sure she didn't hurt herself but she didn't say where she was going. I just hope she comes home soon and then we can figure out how to slowly force the English language upon her again."
Of course, I had to fall in love with the impulsive one; I can't leave until I know she isn't in any danger. He thought angrily, knowing in his heart that this had all been so stupid anyway. Loki teleported to a place where her energy was the strongest, it was a bar not too awfully far from the apartment. It wasn't hard to spot the golden angel in her nightgown, who had only bothered to grab a trench coat on her way out to wrap around her. She'd brushed her hair out in the car he'd assumed, as it was back to looking smooth and silky. She was uttering things that the bartender obviously didn't understand, and they were both getting frustrated.
"Ni faug…" She kept whispering, though no one understood and so no one served her. Loki sighed, it was taking all his strength not to walk over and smack the daylights out of the server, she was obviously asking for a drink. Though what was obvious to Loki, whom had just spent two months trapped in this girls world wasn't so normal to everyone else. A few moments later, a tall man in a suit approached Britney, a look in his eyes that Loki in no way trusted, so he moved in just a bit closer.
"Ma'am, as a businessman, I speak a lot of different languages. Chinese, Japanese, Swahili, but you're speaking something I've never heard before. You must be awfully far from home, is that a mandarin dialect you're using?" Britney looked up at him glumly and shook her head.
"Ú-thand." He chuckled creepily, reaching out and cupping her cheek.
"I don't understand a word your saying, gorgeous. I love it when I meet foreign women I can't understand, something about that's kind of hot." Britney turned purple and looked away, and Loki was praying to the gods that it was an uncomfortable purple and not the kind she'd turn around him.
She's not foreign, she lives right down the street you pompous old fool. To say that Loki was brooding and on edge was an understatement, he was tense, ten seconds away from murdering this man, and about to have a mental break down. The stranger petted her hair for a moment and leaned in, Loki becoming quite pleased when she pushed him away.
"Baw!" She huffed, turning around in her seat to where she wasn't facing him. Loki was just thinking to himself that he should leave, he'd taught his maiden well, she could fare on her own. But the moment he turned his back and headed towards the exit, that melodious voice that haunted him in his dreams rang out in pain, something he'd never been able to handle hearing in her.
"Nîdh!" Loki recognized that word from the many times Britney had accidently hurt herself, she was klutzy you see, which Loki found to be adorable. It Hurts. That was what Nîdh meant, and when Loki turned to see the strange businessman yanking Britney's hair back and forcing her into a kiss, something clicked within Loki. He was no longer unsure whether or not she was more to him than a best friend, he was no longer afraid to say to her what he felt, and most importantly, he was no longer afraid of hurting her. In that moment it was clear to him that he could never do to her what that man was doing, or anything else that may cause her harm, because his instinct to protect her was stronger than he'd ever dared imagine when they met. His love for her was that previously unnamed emotion that made his heart ache when he was near her, the driving factor of his possessiveness and jealousy, what made his body feel too warm and vulnerable yet strangely safe on those nights that he confided in her. Britney was dorky, weak, too kind for her own good, optimistic yet slightly introverted, and she was the strangest person in the nine realms that he'd ever met, yet Loki, son of Laufey and renowned God of mischief, had fallen helplessly in love with her.
"Get your ungodly hands off of her, she's mine!" Loki sneered, an almost inhuman growl ripping through his chest as he very tenderly, as not to hurt her any further, tore the mans fingers from her hair and shoved him off of her.
"I saw her first, freak; I bet you don't even know where she's from." The stranger challenged.
"She's from somewhere in-between none of your damn business and if you touch my girlfriend again I will kill you." By this time the bar had grown quiet and everyone was looking in their direction. Britney had hid behind Loki, who was now inches away from the man's face.
"You'll kill me huh? Over some mandarin slut?" Loki grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"I've killed over less. Now, I dare you to call her a slut once more." The man, now struggling to breathe, choked out slut as best he could manage. Loki smiled his rawest, evilest smile and shrugged his shoulders.
"So be it." He snapped the man's neck in one swift motion and dropped his body to the floor carelessly. The rest of the people in the bar all reacted at once, some fleeing, others charging at Loki. He picked Britney up in his arms bridal style and they quickly disappeared before everyone's eyes. Britney was trembling in his arms, and he knew that killing him in front of her had been a mistake, but to him it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore besides her safety. They had ended up back in Britney's room and he pinned her against the wall.
"What on Earth were you thinking? Going to a place like that alone, I don't care how badly I hurt your feelings, never put yourself in danger like that again, do you understand me?!" He barked, his damp eyes only mirroring hers.
"Why do you care?" Her first English words in about an hour were icy and shouted, something that wounded him more than he'd like to admit. A simultaneous tear treaded down both of their cheeks, and for some reason this pissed him off.
"Because I love you!" He screamed, the words hung thick and heavily in the air, nearly suffocating them both.
"Y-You what?" He ever so softly brushed the tears from her face and took a deep breath, lowering his voice to avoid shouting at her again, which he hated doing.
"Ci veleth e-guil nîn." He whispered, not knowing how she would react considering what all had just happened. Britney was dangerously close to fainting, the man she loved had just killed someone and then told her she was the love of his life in a language she'd half way taught him. She didn't know if she was happier or more terrified, but there was something about Loki that made her love him and remain unafraid of him no matter what he did.
"I love you too, so much." She whispered back, finally losing consciousness and falling into his arms. He carried her back to her bed and curled up with her.
"Forgive me, Fair One, I'll make this up to you, I promise." Unbeknown to him, Emily had been standing in the doorway for quite a while. She smiled to herself and sighed. Loki was so wrong for her, but so right at the exact same time. It was hard for her to say whether or not they would make it, but it was clear that fate had brought them together for a reason, and she was fairly certain that no matter how soon, Britney had made a decent choice.
Maybe Thor was right. Emily thought. There's more to Loki than just a fallen prince.