So sorry for the long wait guys, I've had a devil of a time getting this chapter to work. I've rewritten it at least ten times, but I finally got it looking and feeling the way I want. Anyway, warning, mature content ahead so if you don't like it, don't read it. It's after the last line break so tread carefully. Thanks to the faves/follows/reviews :
Lokitober
Petalclaw's PatriceBethPorter
PokeRainbows92
flaming dragon girl
cynicalrhyme36
NoVacancyMind
Some of those are from last chapter, I finally found where my new gmail account was hiding them. Anyway, reviews are like liquid inspiration to me so Please please PLEASE leave one! I would prefer constructive reviews, maybe criticism if you feel the need, but any feedback is always great!.
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A Domestic Disturbance
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Riley had never been so happy to see her small apartment as she was the day she came home from the hospital. It hadn't been a long stay, barely two weeks, but it had felt like an eternity. Jane had been keeping her posted of all the events taking place around the city, all the gravitational anomalies and various "odd" crimes Thor had taken to investigating.
There had been a sudden rash of murders around the inner city, lots of young people going missing or simply dying in the streets from apparently natural causes. Thor thought it was the Dark Elves, taking prisoners, or building an army. Riley had tried not to scoff at that idea, finding the idea of an ancient celestial being needing street kids to conquer the world when he had the Aether, but she kept it to herself. It was troubling though, the Malekith hadn't made a move yet. The worlds were starting to blend together, strange rubble had begun to pop up at major historical sights around the world. Space debris that had no apparent origin was falling almost daily, and the stars were beginning to look...odd.
Loki had noticed it too, growing more and more protective every day, refusing to leave Riley's bed side for more than a half hour at a time. It had given them time to bond, for lack of a better word, though it was far from easy, striking up a conversation with him. It had felt more like an interrogation most of the time. He would drill her for hours about details she could barely remember from not only her attack, but also both dreams where she'd seen his "other half", as she'd taken to calling him.
He would grow frustrated with her very quickly, insisting that she was withholding details intentionally and then they would fight. It had been very confusing for her, wondering why he would care so much and why he was getting so angry with her supposed refusal to share. Before this all happened, he didn't seem to care less about what she had to say and now he wanted her entire life story. It was beginning to drive her up the walls. Luckily for Riley and Loki both, she was released a couple days early, apparently her healing was progressing more rapidly than they'd anticipated.
She smiled as she stepped into her apartment, inhaling the familiar scent of incense and cigarette smoke. It was good to be home. But as she walked into the living room, her mind was assaulted with all the memories of what had happened there. She stilled for a moment, feeling the emotions beginning to bubble up, choking off her windpipe and robbing her legs of strength. She sagged backward, into the relatively cool chest of the man who'd been both her savior and her tormentor.
"Are you sure you're well enough to be home?" Jane appeared at her side.
"Yeah, just shock. Sorry." he directed her last statement back toward Loki, standing away from him as her emotions settled back down into her chest. She walked gingerly over to the couch, moving aside the stacks of papers from both the cushions and the table, dragging an ashtray over to her as she collapsed onto the worn in piece of furniture. It felt good to be back in her rightful place. This cushion, this ashtray, this place, it was where she was right and whole. It was where she was safe, where the world couldn't touch her. This cushion was where she'd done almost everything in her life that had ever mattered. This ashtray had caught so much more than just cigarette butts. It had caught the breath of every major idea she'd ever had. It had caught the tearful sobs as she mourned, and the booming laughter as she celebrated.
She felt the strength of all this old confidence suffuse her battered spirit and she let the first genuine smile she'd had in days spread slowly across her face as she placed a cigarette to her lips. She began to search around for a lighter, growling softly when one failed to present itself, only to have an elegant hand drop into her field of vision, a small flame resting in the palm. She held the tip in the flame until it glowed a cherry red and took a long pull from it, sighing softly as the familiar buzz of nicotine began in her brain.
"I will never understand why people do that." Jane sat down beside her, moving aside another stack of papers.
"Because we care more about enjoyment than we do a long life." Riley exhaled, directing the smoke away from Jane's slightly scowling features.
"But don't you know what it does to your lungs?" She leaned forward. Riley took another deep pull from the cigarette and sighed, the smoke curling from both her nose and her mouth.
"Jane. I know you care about me. I accept that you are worried about me. But in the past two weeks, I have lost my best friend, been almost killed twice. Had fictional characters invade not only my home, but my whole world. And now we're looking at facing down the end of not just one universe, but two. Do you really think now is the right time to ask me to quit smoking?" She tapped ash into the tray without breaking eye contact with the tiny brunette. She knew she probably looked more than a little threatening, if not insane, but she wasn't going to let someone horn in on the one moment of peace she'd had in what felt like forever.
"Fair enough." To her credit, Jane tried to hid the offense and judgment in her voice, but Riley knew that tone too well and couldn't stop the sardonic smile from spreading across her features. Thor stepped forward, trying to stall Jane's rather childish attempt at storming out, but accomplished very little. He sighed, looking between Loki and Riley for a moment before exiting after her. Their voices could be heard, echoing dimly down the hallway.
"Well, that was...fun." Riley sighed, looking down at the patterns in the ash. It was something she used to do to help her clear her thoughts. It wasn't working though, not with the other God still in the room.
"Why do you indulge in this habit of yours?" Loki walked across the room, causing the smoke hanging limply in the air to swirl and drift slowly after him.
"I started out of curiosity. I had a friend that smoked and it looked like fun, so I asked for one. Now I do it for two reasons, first and foremost, I enjoy it and because the chemical receptors in my brain have been trained to expect the nicotine. If I don't get it, I don't think right. I get agitated easily, I get headaches, I can't focus on anything, it's just not fun. I know it's bad for me and that I should quit, but I don't want to. Addiction's a bitch like that." She took another long pull, flicking the ash off the end of the small cylinder, letting the smoke curl out of her mouth in lazy tendrils.
"Is there no other way to get this "nicotine"? A way that would not harm you?" Riley looked up, genuinely surprised at the tone of concern in his voice.
"There are artificial cigarette systems, things that deliver the nicotine in water vapor instead of smoke, but I've tried pretty much all of them and it isn't the same. I stick with um for a while, but end up right back here. There's just no substitute for the real thing. Why all the questions? Since when do you care so much?" She smirked, taking another drag.
"I am no so without emotion that I would glance over you doing harm to yourself. Besides, I have gone through so much effort to keep you alive and well. It would seem odd if I were to stop now." He matched her smirk, flicking his wrist. The cigarette vanished from between her fingers along with the smoke trail that had been drifting around her head.
Riley sighed, reaching for her pack and lighter, only to find that they too had mysteriously vanished. She felt a familiar pang of mild panic. It was one thing to not have a cigarette when you knew you had more and could get to them, but to be without them entirely...that was truly worrying.
"Alright, very funny, now bring um back." She looked up at him, trying to hid the emotion on her face. She hated this part of her habit, the mild paranoia that came along with not having a pack or two on hand at all times.
"I will not. You have said yourself you should break the habit and I will not allow you to harm yourself further." Loki fixed her with a superior glare, his tone final and leaving no room for argument. Or so he thought.
Thor was the first to top the stairs, his body already tense. A feeling of foreboding had assaulted him the moment he entered Riley's apartment building. Jane was still trying to catch up, huffing her way up the stairs, asking between puffing breaths exactly what it was he was running toward. The sound of shattering glass answered both their questions almost immediately. Thor was by the door in seconds, hammer raised and ready to batter down anything in his way. But it was Jane who was through it first.
Riley had Loki pinned in a corner, the particular corner seemed to shift from moment to moment as he hopped around the apartment, trying to avoid the projectiles being flung at him. The tiny woman, fresh from the hospital, stood red faced and screaming in the center of the room, a veritable armory of ammunition surrounding her.
"Arrogant prick!" She hefted what looked like a math book and flung it at the already fading form of Loki.
"Irrational mortal!" He called from the opposite corner.
"Give them back!" She flung an ashtray at him. He vanished, only to appear in yet another corner, this time in the small kitchen, the only part of the room left conspicuously free of debris.
"I will not allow you to continue this habit, it is harmful and you are too valuable to me." His tone was haughty and full of condescension.
"That's not your decision to make! I'm not your girlfriend, I'm not your wife and I'm not your goddamn slave!" Riley teetered on her feet, the look of anger falling from her face.
"Riley, calm yourself. You are not yet fully healed." Thor barked, loud enough to be heard of the din, moving quickly to her side as she began to fall backward.
"What the hell did you do to her?" Jane fumed, storming over to the god still resting in the corner.
"I merely did what you suggested. I removed the cigarettes from her apartment." He betrayed no emotion as he spoke, merely fixing the somewhat unstable Riley with a look of derision.
"Whoa. Okay, well, um, good idea, but not really the best way to go about it." Jane felt awkward, acknowledging that Loki had actually done something right for once, but she'd always believed that you give credit where credit is due.
"Good idea? Seriously? What am I, an invalid? Do I not get to make my own choices anymore?" Riley had finally regained her feet and was staring at Jane as if she'd never met her before.
"Well, you really shouldn't be smoking, and it's hard to quit on your own, so this is kinda good. Right?" Jane's voice grew more and more quiet as she spoke, aware of the danger she was stepping into.
"Oh wow. Ya know what? Fuck this and fuck all of you. You want the apartment, take it. I've got other places I can stay. Places where I can smoke if I fucking want to and won't have to worry about other people deciding what I can and cannot do." She turned, grabbing her coat, keys and bag and storming through the door.
"Should we go after her?" Jane sounded both worried and relieved, having never been very good with verbal confrontation.
"It would do you no good. She is clearly irrational. Does she not see that we are trying to help her?" Loki sounded genuinely confused as he watched Riley's car speed off down the road.
"I do not think that is how she sees it my brother." Thor sighed, placing a hand on Loki's shoulder. For the first time in a long time, Loki let it remain there.
Riley stopped at a gas station across the street from the lab. She knew they would look for her there, knew they would probably drag her back to the apartment whether she wanted to go or not, but at the moment, she was too pissed off to care. All she wanted to do was have a beer and a smoke and be alone for a while.
"They probably all think I was just pissed I couldn't smoke." She muttered, walking through the swinging door. The place was a little cold, always had been, the man who owned it was from somewhere up north, and was always hot, even in winter. But they had the best cigarette prices in the city. She grabbed a six pack of Yuengling, the only beer she ever drank, and walked up to the counter.
"Ah, it is a long time since I see you. How is your friend?" The man smiled, getting up from his little stool by the window and reaching automatically above him, where the single packs where kept.
"Hey Yanna, go ahead and give me a carton, and I'd really rather not talk about it. Bad stuff is happening around here man. Little piece of advice, cash out, close up and get the hell outta dodge for a while." She tossed a few candy bars and some chips onto the counter as well, passing him her ID to scan.
"If trouble is coming, I will be here. I have nothing by my store and no where to go but back home, and I will be damned if I am going back there again." He smiled, ringing her through and bagging her stuff before passing it over to her.
"I know how that is. Looking for a new place to by myself at the moment. Anyway, stay safe man, and don't work to hard." She took the bag, walking toward the door.
"You know I never do, is the American Dream right?" He laughed as he watched her shake her head. It was a joke he made every time she left the store, and it was still funny, at least to him. Riley just humored the man, he was getting on in years and knew he would never get any higher on the social ladder than "that weird russian guy who lives in a gas station". But he was at peace with his place in the world. She sighed as she crossed the road, all but dead at this time of day.
"Wish I knew what that was like." She muttered, shoving open the door to the lab. It was still a wreck, pieces of metal and wire still littered the floor, but the entrance to the small loft area looked to be in one piece, hopefully the room beyond it was as well.
She'd never stayed there, finding the place to be too creepy and old for her tastes, but James had sworn by it. On the really late nights, when the sun was coming up as he was going to bed, the lack of windows really came in handy. It wasn't big, bigger than most attached housing in the area, which usually consisted of two rooms and a bathroom, but smaller than what she was used to.
There was a mattress on the floor, an old tv on a stand, a few books on a rotting old bookshelf and two doors, one that led to a kitchen and one that led to a bathroom. The bathroom was the only part of this place that made it great, or so James had always said. He'd spent all his spare time fixing it up, hoping to get to the other rooms some day. This was what Riley was thinking as she dropped the bags onto the mattress. If it was as spectacular as he said, a bath might be just the thing she needed.
Jane paced back and forth across the living room, glaring down at her cellphone as her call was sent to voicemail for the tenth time. She knew she should give Riley some space, that she would come to realize the good they'd done in her own time. But Jane was far from patient when it came to people. She liked her people to make sense and follow her lead, and when they didn't, she found it never led to anything good.
"Why isn't she picking up? Do you think she'd ok? I mean, she knows Malekith is after her still, doesn't she? How could she just run off like that?" She collapsed onto the couch, leaning into Thor's shoulder.
"She is upset with us. Though I do not condone this habit of hers, if it is as bad as you say, Loki was out of line in what he did and you were just as wrong to support him. Riley is right, she is not our child nor is she our slave. We do not have the right to dictate her actions." His eyes never left his brother's form as he spoke, watching the way the silhouette stiffened at the mention of wrong doing.
"I did nothing wrong. I saved her from her own stupidity and held firm when she devolved into hysterics." Loki didn't turn as he spoke, unwilling to betray to the others the guilt he was feeling. It had begun as a prank, something to get under her skin and get back at her for calling him out on his concern. But as she began to demand not only action but also apology from him, his pride flared up inside him and made him act foolishly. Now Riley was out there, wounded, alone and vulnerable.
Riley sighed as she sank into the steaming water in the tub. James must've had her in mind when he put it in. It was a massive stand alone tub, deep and curved so that all you had to do was float. It felt glorious to be alone and relaxed, no evil space elves, no idiot street kids, no arrogant gods to try and...
"Riley?" Loki's voice sounded from just outside the door.
"Damn it." She blew a breath out of her nose as she submerged herself completely.
"Riley, if you are there I demand an answer for your actions." His voice carried to her even under the water. She resurfaced, groaning as she wiped water from her eyes.
"What do you want Loki?" She tried to contain her voice, keep herself from moving instantly into a confrontation, but the old one was still too fresh in her mind.
"I have already said. I want an explanation." She could tell both his expression and his posture, simply from the sound of his voice.
"Oh I think I made that pretty clear before I left. You were being a controlling ass and I didn't like it. It's really simple." She reached over the side of the tub, feeling around until she found the rim of her beer bottle, taking a long swig before letting it settle back onto the tiles with a soft "clink".
"That is a good way to injure yourself you know." Loki's voice sounded from just behind her, causing her to scream and jump almost clean out of the bathtub, her body curling forward to hide her body.
"What the hell man?" She all but screamed as she turned in the tub to face him, keeping her legs up and together, arms crossed around herself.
"Talking through the door seemed a bit foolish, and as I have already seen you without apparel once before, I did not think it would affect you so...drastically." He grinned, his eyes travelling slowly down her form.
"Ass. Out. Now." She freed one arm enough to point toward the door, her eyes promising all manner of death if he didn't immediately remove himself. He held his hands up in a mocking gesture of surrender before vanishing, knocking on the other side of the door to show he was back where she felt he should be. Riley could have cried from frustration, reaching behind her and pulling the plug out of the wonderfully warm bath that had been making her forget about the idiot on the other side of the door.
She stood, wrapping a towel around herself, reaching up and grabbing James' old bathrobe from it's hook on the door and tying it securely around her waist. She wrapped a towel around the dripping ends of her hair as she opened the door. Loki walked in as she retreated back to the lip of the tub, sitting down and beginning to towel dry her hair.
"Explain to me why mortals are so modest. Surely you must know I have seen females in the past, in equal states of undress, and yet you act as though you have something special to protect." He laughed softly, once again taking in her appearance. He had preferred her nude.
"People just don't like being exposed okay? Some of it is social convention, some of it is learned guilt from being too long in a patriarchal judeo christian society, and some of it is just that I don't want you eye fucking me every time you see my tits. It's weird, and uncomfortable." She tossed the towel over the side of the tub, grabbing her beer and walking out of the room, her bare feet making soft slapping noises with every step.
"You do not enjoy the fact that I find you passably attractive?" He walked sideways, keeping step with her the whole way across the room, sinking onto the bed beside her as she sat down and pulled an ashtray off a night stand.
"First of all, that was a back handed compliment, I'm way more than passably attractive, second of all, if you think I'm hot enough to spy on in the bathtub, why haven't you made a move yet, and third, and this is the really important bit, if you do anything, at all, to my cigs or beer, or anything else I have while I'm in this place, I will make sure you are useless to women for the rest of your life. Understand?" She smiled and Loki found that he felt true apprehension. Perhaps he had pushed her too far? He grinned as he considered ways to test his theory.
"You are correct, of course. While I admit that you are quite...attractive, for a mortal, you will never compare to the ladies of Asgard." He looked off into the middle distance, trying to add as much flare to the statement as possible.
"Oh, you mean like Sif? Yeah, she doesn't seem that into you." Riley blew out a stream of smoke as she watched Loki's face fall.
"You tread on dangerous ground mortal." He warned, turning his face to her.
"Oh fuck off. If you don't wanna hear the truth then leave." She tapped ash off her cigarette, popping open another beer off the nightstand and taking a swig.
"You remind me of a friend I once had. Volstag was his name. He too had a love for tobacco and ale, and you are about the same size." He turned away, missing the perfectly calm look on Riley's face. All was quiet for a moment and Loki had begun to believe himself the victor when cold beer washed over his head.
Riley knew better than to stay so close. She was up and away, beer bottle in hand, the moment the last drop was gone. She stood, back to the wall, bottle out and ready as Loki turned to face her.
"That was...unwise." He phased out of sight, reappearing just in front of her. She moved to swing, but before she could so much as budge, he had her back against the wall, both hands pinned, cigarette and bottle both gone. "You are an infuriating menace!" He growled, his face inching closer to hers.
"And you are an arrogant pompous controlling manipulative..." She never got a chance to finish her sentence. Loki's lips seared against her own, pushing down with enough force to hurt. She expected herself to fight, to kick him and run, but all she found she could do, all she wanted to do, was return it with as much force as she could.
It didn't last long. A few seconds passed before Loki seemed to come to his senses. He looked down at her as if he'd never seen her before, as if he had no memory of how they'd come to be in this position. But his skin was flushed, his irises were almost completely gone, and if the panting was anything to go on, Riley had definitely made an impression. He blinked for a moment, still holding her pinned, robe hanging open, towel sagging to reveal an ample amount of skin. The swell of her breasts was keeping it in place for the moment but it wouldn't last long.
"What are you?" His voice was soft, not at all like the last time he'd asked that question.
"I'm just a girl." She smirked, her higher brain function deciding to just let her have this one. And that was exactly what Loki needed to hear. He was on her again in a heart beat, dropping her hands so that he could tear away the robe and towel, leaving her shivering and naked against the wall. His own clothes followed a moment later, fading out of existence as if they'd never been.
The skin to skin contact was amazing. It sent fire dancing through both of them in currents, making each touch and caress seem like a live wire. Riley had never felt anything like it before. It was as if she were a virgin again, every nerve fresh and new. She pressed into him, needing to feel more of him, all of him.
Loki, for his part, was attempting to remain in control of his mind. It wasn't easy with Riley's hands moving every where, stroking and gliding across parts of him that had been denied touch for far too long. She knew her way with men, he would give her that. It came as a shock to him, as focused as he was, when she surged forward, pressing him into the wall instead, sinking to her knees before him.
The next few minutes passed in a blur for him. All he could clearly remember is his hand in her hair, guiding her as she bobbed back and forth, and the noises she made as she moved. It had almost been his undoing. But he was not one to be outdone. It took all his willpower to pull her away, but a moment later found them once again reversed, her body pinned against the wall with his own.
He allowed her a moment of shocked appreciation before his hands began a journey of their own. He quickly discovered all those little places women have that set them to writhing and, once he'd found those little buttons, all he did was press them. He kept one hand against her center, teasing and flicking against that wonderful nerve bundle, using his other hand to add the finishing touches until she was coming apart in his hands. He swallowed her cries with a deep kiss, their tongues dueling for supremacy as her body quaked with the pleasure of his continued attention. But Loki could only tease, and be teased for so long. A few moment more passed before he was lifting her bodily from the floor, her legs wrapping around his hips automatically.
"Are you pure?" His voice was strained, clearly exerting any control over his impulses was difficult.
"What?" Riley opened her eyes for the first time in over a minute, fixing him with a confused stare.
"Have you been with a man before?" Loki spoke quickly, grinding out the words as he pressed into her center.
"Yes, not a virgin, please move." It was the "please" that did it. Loki had been with women before, but never at their insistence. His brother had made it a point of sending him "entertainment" whenever he deemed it necessary. Riley was the first to ever simply ask for it, and he was determined to deliver.
He pressed into fully with one thrust, burying himself up to the hilt in her wet center. The sound that came from her was heavenly and it made his knees feel weak. It felt different somehow, better than any other woman he'd ever had. It sent a thrill through his blood to think he was making her make those sounds and he would hear her scream his name before it was over.
Riley could hardly breathe, she'd never felt such pleasure before. It was like her body was burning from the inside, but freezing on the outside. Her nerves ached with the sensation and she found her hips moving of their own accord, striking a slow rhythm to match his thrusts. She forced her eyes open, wanting to see his face screwed up in pleasure, only to be met with twin green orbs, burning with a passion she'd never seen before. She leaned forward and captured his lips in a kiss, holding on for dear life as he began to speed up.
She gasped as he began to brush against that one spot inside her. The one spot no man could ever seem to find. She felt her body beginning to tense up, like a spring coiling inside her and as it released, she screamed out his name, her back arching so far it hurt. Loki followed her quickly into oblivion, hanging onto her shaking form as he spent himself inside her.
It was either could do to remain standing, as they both came down from bliss. Riley slowly unwound herself from him, placing her feet securely on the floor before stepping away. Loki merely leaned against the wall, watching out of the corner of his eye as she gathered both towel and robe and wrapped up in both. Something was wrong with the way she was walking. She was favoring one side, like it hurt to bend too far the other way.
"Riley, are you well?" He stood away from the wall, conjuring only breeches and shirt to cover himself.
"Yeah, just hurt is all." She grabbed her pack of cigs and tapped one out, lighting it and collapsing onto the mattress, a lazy smile on her face.
"And what is it you are smiling at?" He tried to keep the tension from his voice, trying to pass it off as a jest.
"It's just been a long time since I've been...well, let's just say you are by far some of the best ass I've had in ages." She took another drag, laughing softly as she exhaled. Loki settled beside her, a finger tracing a lazy line up the leg left exposed by both towel and robe.
"And are you...experienced?" He grinned, watching her eyes roll.
"Oh don't get all jealous on me now God of Mischief, it was before I knew you." She looked up at him, grinning.
"Oh well I suppose I can forgive you then." He returned the grin, watching as she sat up.
"So...are we gonna be weird now? I mean, you aren't gonna start courting me or something right?" She took another puff and tapped ash into the tray.
"No. Why? Is it a common custom here to wed whomever you...please?" He let another lazy grin spread across his face, finger continuing to trace patterns. Riley giggled, moving her leg from his grasp and putting the cigarette out, looking at him as she stood and moved over to the battered old chest of drawers in the corner.
"No, not anymore. Used to be though and I guess I thought our society was kinda based on yours. Anyway, I'm beat." She turned from him, letting robe and towel drop as she dug in the drawers, pulling out a pair of black cotton underwear and an oversized green sleeping shirt.
"Wearing my colors already? My, I must've made an impression." He grinned, standing as well, his clothes shifting to match hers.
"Oh haha, you're sooo hilarious. You're forgetting that I had these clothes long before I met you." She walked back to the bed, trying to hide the affect he was having on her.
"Of course, forgive my assumptions." He bowed low, waiting for her to walk by. All it took was one quick shove and she was on her back on the bed, hair fanned out around her. He let out a small laugh, and that was all either could clearly remember for the rest of the night.
So yeah, that happened lol. That scene took FOREVER to get right, so please let me know what you think! Review if you so wish! And I'll see you guys in the next chapter.