Loki flees to his room to avoid embarrassment. Thor's mother was so obvious in her intensions that a child would have picked up on her little hints. No wonder she wanted everyone to linger and hear her conversation with Thor. The entire thing was for Loki's benefit. He feels like he is on the verge of tears and he is not even sure why. He needs to think this out.
Thor turns searching for Loki's face behind him only to find him absent. Thor would never consider himself a brilliant scholar but even he couldn't miss the hints his mother was dropping. Thor almost blurted out Loki's name when Frigga asked him if he had anyone in mind. He didn't but for the one obvious glaring reason. Loki still hates him. The fact that he has fled the room only confirms Thor's suspicions. Loki wants nothing to do with his mother's matchmaking. Moreover, does he? Loki is a Jotunn. Their children would be Jotunn hybrids that would in all likelihood inherit some if not all of Loki's natural features. Could he love his children if they looked like that? Thor is not sure. It doesn't matter. Loki would never be interested in such a match.
Natasha knocks on Loki's door and waits for a moment before entering. Loki is sitting in a lounge chair looking out the window. She can tell he is having an inner dialogue full of argument.
"Care to talk about it?" Natasha asks.
"Thor's mother is a lunatic! She's brilliant but she's a lunatic. Even if Thor were interested in me, which he will never be, how could I allow myself to lay with that man? He's murdered untold scores of my people and tried to bash my head in the first time he met me. If I even so much as flirt with the man I might as well return home right now, go to the public shaming square and declare myself a blood traitor to my people!" Loki cries.
"You would not be a traitor Loki. You would be a responsible pragmatic Prince acting in the best interests of the people you have left. You would be doing it to save your species. Political marriages have been made for far less noble reasons than that."
"Yes, and I'll spend the rest of my life on my knees sucking the King of Asgard's cock like a good little Jotunn." Loki hisses.
"You say that like it would be a bad thing." Natasha grins. Loki glares at her aghast by her remark.
"Oh come on Loki I've seen the way you look at Thor, especially when he takes his shirt off in the gym. Don't pretend you haven't thought about it." Natasha adds.
"I…wh….I most certainly have not!" Loki lies blushing a scarlet rose.
"Liar. A girl would have to be dead below the waist to not think about all that muscle in the middle of the night." Natasha says with her eyes hooded.
"Have you been thinking about Thor like that?" Loki says with an edge of jealousy to his tone.
"Hell yes I have!" She says.
"Tasha! You …you can't think of him like that!" Loki whines.
"Why, 'cause it makes you jealous…'cause you're into him?" Natasha quieres.
"NO! I am NOT jealous!" Loki says as he folds his arms and crosses his legs in a pouty childish manner reminiscent of a thirteen year old girl. Natasha quirks her eyebrow at him and gestures to his body language. Loki huffs at her in annoyance.
"So Thor is nice to look at. That is lust not love, and you are forgetting that Thor finds me repulsive."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. He's been ogling you ever since you changed your appearance." Natasha says.
"This outer shell is a lie. The fact that he finds it attractive means nothing to me." Loki says.
"The fact that he is attracted to you at all is promising. He used to think of you as nothing more than a creature that needed to be exterminated, remember?" Natasha pushes.
"How could I forget? I have lost much in my life, and endured a great many horrors. I'll not sacrifice my last shred of dignity by throwing myself at that man." Loki says.
"What if he courted you?" Natasha asks.
"Thor would never do that. He hates me." Loki says.
"I didn't hear a no in there." Natasha says with a smile.
XxXxXxXxXx
"We need to talk." Natasha says as she grabs Thor's arm and drags him back to his bedroom.
"Yes Lady Natasha. What is it?" Thor says politely.
"How do you feel about Loki?" She puts it to him bluntly. Thor's eyes go wide and he fumbles for a politically correct answer.
"I'm in awe of Loki and his strength and endurance in the face of all he has overcome to include my own hatred and ignorance." Thor says eloquently.
"Cut the bullshit Thor. We all heard your mother. Now is Loki a contender to be your queen or not?"
"Why? Is he interested?" Thor asks with a lilt in his voice.
"Do you like him in that way or not?" Natasha says like she is talking to a two year old.
"I…he's surprising… and honest. Never in all my life has anyone opened my eyes like he has. I've been surrounded by sycophants for so long I could not recognize them for what they were. Loki made me see the ugliest parts of myself and he changed me. He is beautiful to me." Thor finally puts together the words he wants to say.
"And half-breed Jotunn children? Would that bother you?" Natasha asks pointedly.
"I have thought about that a great deal and realized that I would love my children no matter what their appearance might be."
"What about Loki's man candy? Does the fact that Loki also has a penis bother you?" Natasha asks.
"No." Thor says lightly. That response surprises Natasha and she can't help but give Thor a queer look.
"What about Loki's natural appearance? You seemed to only notice Loki when he made himself look like the rest of us." Natasha asks.
"I am ashamed to say that I do prefer Loki's new appearance to his natural one." Thor confesses.
"Is Asgard's climate like earth's or would Loki be able to walk around in his normal skin if he lived there?"
"Asgard is much like Midgard. Loki would have to continue wearing his new skin if he chose to live there." Thor explains.
"The point isn't completely moot, but either way Loki will be stuck looking like us for the foreseeable future in any case." Natasha says.
"Yes that is true." Thor says. "Lady Natasha, has Loki expressed an interest in courtship?" Thor asks.
"Loki is weighing the option. He fears you'll rebuff him or make him debase himself all just to save his people. He fears that you do not respect him." Natasha says.
"I hold him in the highest regard." Thor says seriously.
"Are you willing to humiliate yourself to win his affections, because I think that is what this is going to take." Natasha asks.
"Is Loki only interested because he wants to save his people or does he feel something for me?" Thor asks.
"Oh, he's into you. He just doesn't know it yet."
