~ Chapter 6 ~

Next Day
8:30 AM

"Do you believe in happiness?" asked Loki the other man on the diva next to his.

"Yes." the elderly man said. "I believe in happiness. Don't you?"

Loki sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "I always believed that happiness was never meant for me. Even if I survived that hell I still live in the same apartment with all those memories. I will never be completely free from my ghosts or my past. So I guessed happiness was never meant for me. That's what I thought."

"But not anymore." he said more as a fact than a question. The doctor let his pen touch the file and the ink spread out in a small dot.

"I don't know what to think. I've met this wonderful boy. He's in my school and he makes me feel..." Loki searched for the word.

"Loved?" supplied the doctor.

"Yes." he agreed. His hands folded over his stomach. "He makes me feel loved. Special. Unique. He doesn't treat me like a freak and when he touches me I can't think of anything else. But I'm not so sure I fit in his world." the other man said nothing. "He lives in a world where evil doesn't exist. He want me to meet his mother and I can't help but be afraid that I will take one step on their doorstep and be pushed away like I had fleas." Loki sighed once more and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what to do."

"What if you just let everything play out and see what happens. Maybe nothing bad will happen. Maybe its all in your mind, you think that you are not allowed to be happy so when you are experiencing happiness you start to reject it and think the worst as a way to protect yourself."

"What should I do then?" Loki looked at the elderly shrink that he had talked to for the past five years.

"Do you love this fellow?" the man asked gently. "Is he special?" he added to give Loki some more options. Forcing him to admit to new feelings when they were still raw was like throwing a gas trunk into a bond fire.

Loki thought carefully. "Yes." he confessed finally. "He's very special. And that scares me."


9:30 AM

"Hello mother." Thor sang as he came up to his mother and kissed her cheek. Surprising the lady.

"My," she said, "Aren't you in a happy mood." she smiled at her son. "Did something happen that I should know of?" she asked curiously.

"Maybe." Thor said as he snatched a piece of toast from the basket and buttered it up.

"Oh, do tell." Frigga pushed her son on. "Don't you dare leave a single detail out."

Thor smiled big from ear to ear, like he couldn't smile big enough. "I've found someone." he confessed.

"Go on." Frigga rolled her hand in a wave motion to make him continue.

"You know how I've become friends with Loki?" Frigga nodded eagerly. "We..." Thor's smile returned just as big. "might be more than friends." and ended with a laugh.

"What do you mean more than friends?" Frigga asked unable to hold back her smile. "Don't beat around the bushes and tell me in straight words. Tell me everything."

"Well, you see, we kissed last night."

Frigga couldn't contain her squeal before her hand clasped over her mouth. "Do tell me more. Is it serious?"

Thor nodded. "I think it is." his face heated up from the memory of their make out session last night. "I can't describe how it happened. One moment we were talking and commenting on his drawing of me, the next thing I know we were kissing." Thor was unable to sit still and got up to go to the fridge and get the milk and a new glass. When he came back to the table he couldn't even sit down.

Frigga gave him a probing look. "You haven't told me the most important."

"What's that?" he asked, seriously not sure what she was hinting at.

"Do you love him?" she said with a tender smile.

Thor saw his mother and also the memories from last night and returned the smile. "Yeah. I love him." he let his words resound inside his heart. "I love him so much."

Frigga walked to her son and hugged him. "Then don't hold back. You know I am happy for you and when your father returns in another month he will be just as happy as I. He might have held his hopes on a girl, but he wont deprive you of your happiness." She put his hands on his strong shoulders and squeezed hard. "Your happiness is everything to us. If Loki is the one then so be it. Just as your father is everything to me, and I his everything."

Thor's heart warmed at the words and he wanted to run to Loki, but he had to wait until their usual time. "Thank you, mother." he said, kissing the top of her head.

Frigga suddenly raised her finger at her son. "But you better bring Loki here. I really want to meet this man so I can see what kind of magic he has weaved over you." she couldn't hide her smile.

"I promise." chuckled Thor.


The sun were already beginning to settle and cast the familiar orange yellow glow inside the classroom. Loki stood by the window and looked out over the empty front yard. His sketch book on the desk together with the pen, untouched but ready.

Since his therapy session this morning Loki had tried to sort through his feelings. It was all so unfamiliar and it made him nervous that he wouldn't make the right decision. He was scared that others would find out about them. He couldn't deny it. After having lived in the eye of the public as "the child who survived hell", he didn't want to go back to it for being with Thor.

Thor.

Just the name of the blond Adonis made his heart dance in his chest. He knew that this was bad, that both of their reputations – not that he had much of one to begin with – would be ruined. Thor had so much to live for while he was just the remains of the past.

Still, he couldn't stay away from Thor. He wanted to see him. He needed to see him.

It was no longer as simple as walking away. He knew that when – when – this ended, he would be the one who were hurt.

He heard the door open and waited silently for the one he knew had just entered the room. He heard the confident steps cross the floor until a pair of strong arms wrapped around him and held close to a firm chest.

Loki heard the happy sigh while Thor planted a soft kiss on his neck. Loki closed his eyes and leaned against Thor.

Even if he would want to run away, he knew that he couldn't anymore.

He couldn't leave Thor.

He was being swept away in the flames of love.

And he would either live for it.

Or die by it.

TBC