She gasped as his lips pressed slow, sensuous kisses along the small curve of her ankle, hands grasping at the bright purple bed sheets beneath her. Her eyes widened, breathing quickened, nipples hardened, and back arched under his affections. Max whimpered when he bit at the sensitive flesh on the underside of her calf, teeth grazing and tongue teasing spots that shouldn't be erotic, but for now every inch of her burned. She hissed his name, and for the first time it felt exotic on her tongue; a low chuckle was his only response. Her eyes sought out his, and the plain brown met striking green moments later, sparking a heat between her thighs that she had never felt before. Her hand slid down her slim frame, hoping to find some sort of relief on her own, but he slapped it away sharply.

Loki continued up her body, nibbling here and sucking there. Her breathing was shaky, uneven, and Max wouldn't have it any other way. They were in a dark room, nothing on the walls or floors, and yet they were splayed across her bed in such a raunchy fashion that they were bound to make the smutty books on her bookshelf jealous. For some reason, she was completely bare atop those bright purple sheets, yet he was fully clothed in black. She sighed happily as his fingers walked slowly up her inner thighs, but it was only at that moment that she noticed he had six digits on each hand.

Had he always had six fingers?

That was forgotten as the delicious possibilities of what he might be able to do with that extra finger ran through her mid, blurring her vision for a moment. Max twisted the sheets firmly when he used his tongue on her skin, so achingly close to the place that would give her optimal pleasure, the greatest satisfaction. She cried his name once more, this time as a plea, begging for the blissful torment to come to an end. He crawled up her body in response, his lithe figure covering hers. The weight felt so real, so firm, and she hastily went to the button on his pants, popping it open without a care in the world. He could have her; he could have every last piece of her over and over again.

Her hands slipped beneath the fabric, aching to bring him out so that she might be able to toy with him for a little while, make his heat as unbearable as hers. However, rather than a hard member pressing into her hands, she felt scales: hard scales, like the shell of a turtle. Max glanced down out of curiosity, her breathing still ragged, and she spied a tail similar to that of a fish – perhaps a mermaid – nestled between her legs.

"Your tail is so big," she purred, oozing sex in a way she never had before. Loki grinned in return.

"I'm glad you like it."

His teeth went to her neck as she stroked the scales below, his pants seeming to have vanished in the movement. She groaned as he sucked on a spot just below her ear, the heat emanating from her core so ghastly, so forceful that she simply couldn't bare it any longer. She wanted to scream, thrash about, behave irrationally.

At that moment, the door to her room opened; daylight streamed across the floor as her curatorial sciences professor strolled in. He moved straight to her desk, which was now in a room where there was once only a bed, and she watched as he settled down in front of her laptop.

"The Yankees won today," he told her, adjusting himself so his round gut could fit properly before her desk. Max nodded.

"I know."

Loki smiled at her, and this time she noticed each tooth was pointed at the end, carnivorous and raw. Some were even red. She grinned anyway, eager for him to finish what he had started. The forecast for today will be a balmy fifty degrees, unseasonable warm for this time of year. We have our traffic report on the way, followed by the latest in local sports… here on 94.2, easy listening in the morning.

Max felt her eyes fly open, realizing that her radio alarm had pervaded the depth of her dreams. She groaned noisily and rolled over, slamming her hand down on the device to turn it off.

"What the fuck, subconscious?" she demanded irritably, running her hands over her eyes before sighing loudly. It had all been a dream. It started off so wonderfully, enough to get her a little aroused currently, but it had finished so abruptly in such a fucked up way that Max didn't even want to think about it. If she ignored it for long enough, it was bound to weaken and fade, and by tonight she wouldn't even remember the sheer fuckery that just happened in her head.

She quickly sat up and glanced down at her bed sheets: dark grey, not bright purple. Where did her mind come up with this stuff? Some people say they don't dream at all, but that seems crazy and lucky at the same time; Max usually had unnecessarily vivid dreams that were never a good time, even if they started off fun. Did they mean anything? Were they predictions of her future? Unlikely.

Sighing once more, she pushed herself out of bed, threw a sweater on over her t-shirt, and then dragged her feet all the way to the bathroom. Even if it was after nine, which was later than she was normally up, Max felt tired today. Maybe all that dreaming had interfered with the good sleep she was normally exposed to. It was a Tuesday morning, which meant she had three of her four classes today, and it was a long slog of lectures ahead. Tonight would be Loki's first shift working in the stock room, and she definitely wasn't in the mood for her sales shift that night.

The bird, thank god, had disappeared yesterday morning. Loki seemed to have some sort of magic working on it, because it hadn't made a peep since he secured it back in its cage Saturday night. Sunday had been a work day for both of them, followed too quickly by Monday classes and a night shift for her, which meant she was in bed late with a tired brain. So far, there hadn't been any black SUVs lurking nearby, but she hadn't really left the apartment much aside from her visits to campus for class and work. She still had the blurry picture of the license plate on her phone, and she wasn't afraid to use it.

All in all, Max felt a little worn out that morning. She couldn't be bothered to shower, as her hair looked fine in the bun she had put it in last night, so she did a quick wash of her face before strolling back out toward the kitchen. As usual, Loki was glued to the television, two empty yoghurt cups on the coffee table and a bowl of her cereal in his hands.

"Morning," he greeted as she strolled by, and Max gave a weak grunt in return. It would take her a couple of seconds in order to not picture him with scales and red teeth. Gross.

She grabbed a banana from their shared fruit basket, and then began to peel it as she leaned on the kitchen island.

"I don't understand these," Loki insisted. Her eyes flickered up to the screen, and they were met with scantily clad Victoria Secret models dancing about through flowing curtains. "Are they selling whores?"

She snorted, choking a little on her mushy banana piece, and then quickly swallowed it down, "No!"

"Then what is the purpose of this message?" he asked, glancing over the couch at her, eyebrows up.

"Well, they're selling underwear," Max explained. "A little early in the morning for it, mind you, but… they look like that to show the product."

Loki pursed his lips, and then settled back into the couch, "I suppose I can see the logic."

"I'm sure they'll be glad their advertising scheme has paid off," she muttered.

With the banana finished, she began rummaging around the cupboards for a bowl, and then poured herself some cereal. That mooch needed to stop stealing all her food; he got all the marshmellow bits in her Lucky Charms, and that was totally uncalled for. She caught a flash of paper on the fridge as she set the milk back inside, and quickly read the office hours Loki had scribbled down for his hero.

"So," she started as she eased herself onto one of the stools by the island, "are you skipping class to go see your idol?"

"My idol?" Loki repeated, "Ludwick?"

"Yeah," she managed with a mouth full of soggy sugar bits.

"Yes, I'll be seeing him sometime today," he replied. "During his hours... He will be there, won't he?"

"I dunno," Max replied. "Sometimes they're there, and sometimes you get there and there's a note on the door telling you that they're out. It's kind of hit and miss with some profs. If he isn't there, just email him for an appointment."

He remained quiet as the news resumed, and Max rolled her eyes. His obsession with local and global events was actually kind of annoying, particularly when she wanted to watch TV late at night. The only way it seemed she would win that argument was if she wrestled the remote off of him, but even then that seemed like a fairly hopeless battle.

Once she finished up with breakfast, she sauntered back to her room and quickly dressed. She had about a half an hour to get ready and get to her first class of the day – curatorial sciences (awkward) – and she knew that if she dawdled in front of the TV with Loki she was never going to get out of there. So, she threw on a pair of loose jeans, a lime green sweater to match, along with socks and a necklace to give the outfit a little pizazz. After, she hastily brushed her teeth and applied a little bit of mascara, and then grabbed her backpack and made for the door.

"See you after class," she told Loki as she pulled on her worn fall books and a light jacket. "Don't be disappointed if he isn't the guy you thought he'd be."

"What?"

"Ludwick," she clarified. "I mean, I'm sure you've built him up in your head… but just… take your expectations down a peg. He works at St. Judith's after all…"

"That does not sound like school spirit, Max," Loki told her, pointing an accusatory finger at her from his spot on the couch. She flipped him off in return, which made him chuckle, and she darted out the door before he could see what that chuckle, the same chuckle from her dream, did to her face.


Loki always found himself endlessly amused by Max's growing affections for him. She might have thought she got away with it that morning, but he saw her face flush just as she darted out the door; what he would have given to know exactly what she was thinking.

He started to notice it about two weeks ago, and he wasn't about to let her get away with it. It was all just a bit of fun; Loki knew how to exploit a weakness when he saw one, and the fact that she blushed such a wonderful shade of crimson when he played it just right was endlessly satisfying. He wouldn't necessarily say that he was flattered by the attentions, but he was certainly more tolerant of them because they came from Max. He could stand Max; she was one of the few humans he had met thus far who he could spend any real time with and not want to pummel into the ground. She was witty in her own way, clearly intelligent based on her level of academia, and was pretty enough for such an ordinary creature. Obviously he had seen women more physically attractive, but she was growing on him.

Max and her almost blatant feelings for him were the least of his concerns. He continued to wake up each morning feeling weak and mortal; it enraged him to no end to be so plain, to lack any real ability to fight off an enemy. Didn't Odin realize what would happen should any of his real enemies find him here? What would they do with him when they realized he had no real power, no chance of defending himself? The horrors that awaited him at the end of the universe, at the far reaches of space and time, were too terrible to imagine in his powerless state.

He had seen that the weaker of his enemies had sniffed him out recently; Loki knew that if he behaved himself, Fury and his band of worthless agents would keep to themselves. However, he also knew that Stark and the rest of that team, the Avengers, would surely take notice of his arrival; the mark he left on this planet when he fell into it was still being studied, and that was sure to catch the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Iron men alike. He would keep his temper in check, pretend as though he didn't know they were spying on him from behind their tinted windows and armoured vehicles.

What else could he do? This frame was too weak to physically attack them, and there were no weapons in this pathetic town to speak of. Loki needed to remain on course with his original plan – Ludwick would give him a way into space, and from there he would find a safe realm in which he could acquire real magic once again. Today was to be the first day of his plan, the first breath of its life.

He had been doing wonderful work in Ludwick's classes; he was always punctual, his assignments were stellar, and he was one of the few who actually spoke in class in order to facilitate some sort of discussion. If he put the same effort into all of the lessons he had been slotted into, he would have quickly become the best student in this wretched school. However, he thought it only gracious that he gave the rest of the young adults had a chance to shine; when it came to Ludwick's class, no one would be given that opportunity.

The man's office hours ranged from eleven in the morning until one in the afternoon, which coincided with his media and technology course. That two hour madness was the most pointless class of all of them; he spent the entire time sketching nonsense on his paper while his professor rambled on about writing styles and social networking. None of it had any appeal to him; some students seemed really keen on it, while the rest clicked around on their laptops and watched videos. Today's agenda would consist of taking up a quiz the professor gave them last time, in which Loki circled random letters in a multiple-choice format and hoped for the best.

If he didn't need to get out of this place so terribly, if he wasn't in dire need of escaping this planet, Loki might have actually tried to learn something. He wasn't opposed to schooling in principle, but he might have tried harder if the consequences of this life weren't so calamitous. However, if he were to actually take up a legitimate study here on Earth, he would have gotten himself settled into one of the top schools in a top country – preferably in a place where women didn't live in track pants that had various degrees of tightness.

Once he finished up with his breakfast, which consisted of a bowl of Max's sugary mess which was only good for about a minute after the milk was poured, Loki quickly showered and dressed. He didn't need any of his books to charm a professor, and opted to leave his bag behind. Instead, he dressed neatly in a pair of fitted trousers and a dark green button-up shirt, preferring to look a little more professional than the rest of the miscreants that wandered around campus.

Dressed and ready to go, Loki was quick to slip into a pair of shoes and walk briskly to campus. He knew the way by now, having walked the path almost every single bloody day for a month. Ludwick's office was located in the same building as his classroom, and once he was inside Loki realized he actually could have walked here with his eyes shut. He navigated through people with ease; it certainly did not take long for him to figure out how to maneuver through speedy walkers and those who moved at the pace of an ancient being, lost in their private world of music and other nonsense.

Ludwick's office was on the third floor of the building, and it was the only one on campus of its height. He hadn't been up there yet, clearly, so it took him a little while to gather his bearings and find his way through the mixture of offices and pristine white laboratories. Number three-fifty-five. His eyes scanned the doors as he marched along, finally spotting the desired office. There wasn't a sign on the door as Max predicted, and Loki grinned when he spotted the dull older man seated at a desk.

Ludwick reminded him greatly of Eric Selvig: average height, not overweight but still a little round in the middle, balding only in one spot at the back of his head, and clear blue eyes that were beginning to look a little cloudy. He always spoke clearly in class, but he was also aware that Ludwick had a tendency to go off on slightly irrelevant topics, so he could fathom why some people found the lessons dull. He even found the lectures to be a little tedious, but he was incredibly practiced in feigning interest in things that were pointless.

He knocked soundly on the doorframe, smiling when Ludwick looked up.

"Hello," the older man said softly, greying eyebrows shooting up when he looked Loki over twice. "Can I do something for you?"

"Professor Ludwick," Loki greeted as he stepped into the small square room, glancing briefly. "How are you this morning?"

The man blinked, and then leaned back in his chair, "I'm fine. You're in my introductory class to biology, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes I am," he remarked with a nod, pleased that he had managed to make a memorable impression in only a few short weeks. "Do you have a few minutes to speak with me?"

For a moment he seemed as though the professor might turn him away. He glanced at his computer screen, then down to a notebook, and he sighed.

"Yes, I have some time," Ludwick said finally. He gestured down to the small chair in front of his desk, and Loki quickly took a seat, careful to appear the eager student in his body language: leaning forward, arms uncrossed, expression keen.

"Well, first just let me tell you what an honour it is to have the privilege to be taught by you," Loki began graciously. "I came here just for you."

"To study biology?" Ludwick asked, eyebrows shooting up. "There are better places around here that are strictly science focused-"

"Actually," Loki clarified, knitting his fingers together as though he were infinitely relaxed, "I'm more interested in your research with space and beyond, particularly where NASA is concerned."

"Oh really?" he asked, finally looking a little more alert in the conversation. "You know, few people are even aware that I have such a position…"

"That is unfortunate," Loki crooned, shaking his head at the sheer ignorance of others. "You were in the paper recently for your work."

"Ah, yes," Ludwick remarked as he suddenly appeared uncomfortable. "It was nothing… merely a consultation. I prefer to remain here to work on my other research."

"The paper said you were analyzing findings," Loki insisted. There was this niggling feeling in his head that this wasn't going the way he wanted it to go. "I think that's quite impressive."

"If you don't say so yourself," the older man commented without a hint of a smile. "Now, what can I do for you?"

Loki ground his back teeth together, but masked his irritation with the man's briskness.

"I'd like to know more about your work with the space program," he began. "Where you started, where you went, what sorts of research you do, where I might be able to go should I wish to pursue a career-"

"All of that can be found on my website," the professor remarked. "If you need help with class guidance, the counselors here would be more than able to help you choose courses that would fit that line of work."

Loki blinked back his frustration, and then leaned forward just a tad more, "I simply thought-"

"Look, I take it you're an undergrad, right?" Ludwick started, sighing noisily. Loki gave a stiff nod. "Right, so if you're in my intro course, you've got a long time to figure this stuff out. It's the first month of school… Enjoy that and then come back. I usually prefer to chat with my students near the end of the year when they have a better idea of what's going on."

Loki cocked his head to the side, staring at the man for a moment as an uncomfortable silence settled over the two. The professor nearly leapt for his desk phone when it buzzed, and he nodded toward the door after he answered it.

"I'm sorry I can't be more help," Ludwick insisted. "Let's talk again some other time."

"Oh, we most certainly will," Loki told him firmly, the mirth and eagerness gone from his eyes, "quite soon, Professor. Good day."

It took everything in him not to slam the office door noisily behind him. How could he be so quickly rebuffed by a man who professed to be an educator? Whatever the case may be, Loki wouldn't be so easily deterred. No, he would try again to engage the older human; perhaps if he could produce genuine appreciation for the man, Odin might believe the appreciation would stem to all humans. Hmm. A possibility.

He still had enough time to make it to his second class if he tried hard enough, but Loki was in no mood to be surrounded by ignorant morons today. Besides, he knew he had to work at Max's little bookstore tonight in order to produce some sort of funds for himself, so he needed time to prepare for that. Irritated, but not defeated, Loki stalked back through the campus and returned home just as the clouds started to thicken above him. Perhaps they were in for another storm.

What an infuriating thought.


"What do you mean he isn't working stock?"

Loki tried to mimic Max's confusion as she glared at the woman, Melissa, who was supposed to be her superior at the shop, but in all honesty, he couldn't care less. At this point, he'd be more than happy to go home having done nothing.

He had spent the better half of the afternoon grumbling about Ludwick's inability to be useful to any degree. Max returned close to five, and by then he had already followed the directions on the back of a box to produce a meal called Kraft Dinner. The woman appeared a little drained after her full day of classes, and because of it hardly seemed embarrassed when they sat next to each other on the couch to eat the meal from the same pot. He'd suggested it so they could keep their dishes clean, as the machine that automatically cleaned them was still broken, and he had sort of wanted to get a kick out of watching her squirm. However, something seemed slightly off with her, probably due to fatigue, and she ate most of her meal in silence in front of the television box.

From there, they piled into the car for the start of their shift at half passed six. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, and Loki could barely see through the streams of water that plummeted down from the sky. Luckily for him, there was no lightning to be seen, which hopefully meant his stepbrother was long gone from Masonville. Max, however, seemed less enthusiastic about the storm, and complained the entire way to campus about driving in terrible weather. She still kept up her offer to teach him how to pilot the car, and he figured it would be a useful skill to have. If he could manage different sorts of alien crafts, he was fairly sure he should be able to drive one of these slow vehicles.

It was a mad dash to get into the building through a door Loki had never seen before, and Max gave him a code to punch in so that he could always have access. It felt quite secretive, quite elite, until he found himself in the locker room surrounded by smelly wet shoes and school bags. He quickly realized this job might be even less glamorous than Max had led him to believe.

Once they had changed out of their wet clothes into something a little more presentable, Max led Loki through the back and into the bookstore, which he was currently only slightly familiar with having purchased very few textbooks. However, he was assured he wouldn't need to know much, as his night would consist of unloading trucks and counting things – apparently.

Well, apparently not.

"Dirk quit this morning," the manager explained tightly, her arms folded across her chest as she looked Loki up and down. "Look, Pat can handle stock, and I'm sure your… friend-"

"Loki," he interjected with a charming smile. The woman's cold front softened a little.

"Loki," she continued, "will be able to work the floor for a night. We're now short a salesperson and we could really use the extra manpower on a Tuesday. What do you think?"

"But he doesn't know anything," Max argued, her hands planted firmly on her hips. "I mean, it's not hard, but-"

"I'm more than capable of following instructions," Loki argued. "So long as they are clear… I would be more than happy to help where I'm needed."

Melissa's chest swelled with what he assumed was pride, and she shot his roommate a slightly smug look. Max arched an eyebrow at him, and then threw her hands up, "Fine, whatever. I'm going to go sign on to my till… I'll be around to help."

The pair watched her move toward the cash registers, and Loki found he actually had to crane his head down to meet Melissa's eye level.

"She seems like she's in a mood."

"It's the weather," Loki told her as he clasped his hands together behind his back. "Now, what is it you'd like me to do?"

"First we'll get your nametag made."

He followed the smaller woman toward the Information Desk near the back of the store, and Loki leaned against the counter as she clacked away at something behind the desk. He wasn't sure why he had been so cheery, but perhaps a small part of him knew he really needed to make the extra money, and the chance of him getting a job somewhere else with this small amount of effort seemed a little unlikely.

"Okay, here you go."

Loki looked down at the small nametag she had handed him, and frowned when he read what was printed on it.

Locky.

Locky? Was she an idiot?

He quickly realized it wasn't worth the effort to correct her, as he planned to be speeding away from this town with his powers intact (or soon-to-be) within the next month or two; it was easier to just go with it. He pinned the tag to his shirt, wincing when he nearly stuck himself with the end of the needle, and then followed Melissa toward the aisles of books.

"Now, Tuesdays mean we give higher discounts for our students, but I'm sure you know that."

He paused, eyeing more students milling around than he had ever actually seen in here, "Right."

"So we're a little busier."

"Right."

She came to an abrupt stop and then gestured to the six aisles on either side of her, labeled from Anatomy down to Music and everything between.

"You're going to man these aisles," she explained. "You don't have to make sales or promote anything… You just need to keep your aisles neat and help people find things. Get used to the way things are stacked. There's a broom in the storage cupboard by the locker room if you need to sweep."

"Right."

"Think you can handle all that?" the woman chuckled, suddenly standing a little too close for comfort. "You're finished at nine, and then once your area is neat, you can leave."

"Right."

"My, you Brits have an extensive vocabulary," she mused, patting his arm. "Give a shout if you need help."

He watched her walk off in the direction of the cash registers, and then he hastily looked away when she glanced over his shoulders. Right. Look busy for the next… He glanced down at his new wristwatch, and then sighed: just under two hours to go. How was he supposed to pretend for that long?

He first strolled up and down all the book aisles. They were labeled according to discipline, and then broken down into divisions by class. Some departments had an entire aisle strictly dedicated to all their classes, and Loki was surprised that there were still books for sale.

Student milled about, some pausing to study a textbook, others simply grabbing what they needed and hurrying off. He could do this. He could stand around at a store for three hours a few times a week in order to make some money.

"Hi."

Loki winced; he didn't want to actually have to do anything here in order to make his money. However, it seemed that people wouldn't even give him that much grace. He turned back to find a very petite blond woman, several years younger than Max to be certain.

"I can't find anything," she laughed, flicking her hair out of her face and then producing a massive list for him. "I totally didn't realize we had to read the books, and now we have exams coming up. Stupid, right?"

She laughed again, and Loki wrinkled his eyebrows as he read her mammoth list.

"Locky?" she asked, "That's a different name… Is it like… French or something?"

"No," Loki remarked, shaking his head at her. "Uh… Why don't we… start…"

She hadn't actually written any of the names for the classes down – only the course numbers, and Loki had absolutely no idea where he was supposed to find any of these.

"What program are you in?" he asked under the guise of making conversation.

"Oh, just first year," she replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she popped a loud bubble of something between her teeth. "So everything, you know?"

"Yes, well…" He cleared his throat, showing the list to her, "I don't know all of these off by heart. You'll need to tell me which classes they are actually for."

She frowned at him, "Isn't it your job to know?"

Loki felt his eye twitch, "No."

"Oh, uhm," she fumbled. "I kind of think it is-"

"Just tell me what the programs are and we'll go from there," Loki ordered tightly, shoving the list back in her hand.

"Okay, so… English…"

Loki marched her over to the proper aisle, and began retrieving books from the shelf as she read out the titles. By the end of the English section, she clearly had nowhere else to put anything, and she shot him a slightly pathetic book over the pile.

"Can you get me a cart?" she whined. Loki stared at her for a moment, and then turned away stiffly and marched back toward the section where he knew there were shopping carts. He grabbed a free one, and then shot Max an irritated look. However, she was busy dealing with a line of her own and didn't acknowledge him in the slightest. He also noticed she had a massive smile on her face – clearly fake, but quite big all the same. Was he supposed to pretend to be happy?

As he walked back to the English section, he noticed that the four other shop employees were also remarkably friendly to just about everyone in their general vicinity. No. That wasn't about to happen. When he found his little blonde customer, she dumped all of her books in the cart and then flicked her hair again.

"Okay, now we go to business!"

Loki rolled his eyes as she flounced off out of the aisle, and then glanced down at the cart. Did she expect him to push it? He nudged it out of the aisle and soon found her in the Business section, but the aisle was too busy for him to bring the cart down. Instead, he walked through another group of people and went to work on getting all the books off the higher shelves for her. He followed her through to the Biology, Calculus, and Spanish sections, despite the fact Spanish wasn't in his section. She seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she could have pushed her own damn cart, and when they were finished, she disappeared without so much as a thanks.

Miserable quim.

An hour followed in which Loki was tugged around to various aisles in his section by different individuals looking for something or another, and by the end of it he was ready to slam the next person's head into one of the metal shelves. Students were insanely messy on top of that, and he was constantly bringing books back to the places where they belonged, picking them off the floor, and closing ones that had been left open during a bit of light reading. Honestly, didn't people have the slightest respect for any sort of order?

The cleanliness seemed to be a common theme across the store, because whenever there was a quiet moment, he noticed the other employees cleaning or tidying something up. This might actually be more work than he anticipated.

"Hey, Locky!"

He turned back to face the new arrival, savagely slamming a book down on a shelf, and then glared when he saw Max grinning at him.

"Love the nametag," she trilled as she approached him. "I'll change it later tonight."

"I didn't have the heart to tell her-"

"But you had the heart to tell that last guy you helped to shove a book up his ass if he didn't leave you alone?"

"I don't recall those being my exact words," Loki said, holding back a grin as she snorted.

"Well, remember that you're in customer service now," she carried on. "You have to be nice to people."

"Even stupid people?"

"Especially stupid people," she giggled, leaning back against a shelf and folding her arms. "Look, Melissa wants you to grab a mop and mop up the front entrance… People are getting water everywhere, and if some idiot falls, we're responsible."

"That seems a little ridiculous."

"Welcome to retail," Max chuckled, grabbing the elbow of his dark shirt and tugging him along. "Come on, I'll show you where the mop is."

"Why can't you do this?"

"Because I'm not new," she told him with a look thrown over her shoulder. "For the next little while, anticipate doing everything gross until you aren't new anymore."

Loki ground his teeth together; he really ought to thank her for finding him this fantastic waste of time. However, he held his tongue as they wandered back in the direction of the locker room, and Max pushed a heavy door open and flicked on a light.

"So," she said, pointing down at a bucket with a long handle coming out of it, "there's your mop. Front entrance… Make sure it's dry."

Loki sighed in sheer disbelief that he had been reduced to this. Was Max somehow involved in his actual punishment? Did she meet up with Odin regularly to tell him new ways she had found that would make Loki suffer without his powers?

However, just because he was without his godly gifts did not mean Loki did not have the upper-hand in their relationship. It only took a few hushed words to make her weak.

He leaned down, his lips near to his ear, and then murmured, "You always know how to make my evenings stellar, Max."

Her breathing hitched in her throat, and Loki grinned as she stepped away, running a hand through her hair.

"Yup, well, I'm going back to my till now," she said quickly. "Have fun mopping."

He watched her scuttle off, and for a moment felt quite pleased with himself. However, he soon came back to reality when his eyes met the mop and bucket in the foul-smelling closet. Right. If the rest of the people who worked here could handle such a simple task, he was bound to be able to do it too. After all, he had lived for hundreds of years, aging very slowly physically, and had endured countless hardships and pain; he ought to be more than capable of mopping up a wet floor.

With that attitude in mind, he grabbed that infernal bucket and mop, and then made his way to the front of the store. Just as Max had said, the front entrance was soaked. Someone had placed a sign up to indicate that the floor was wet, but otherwise it seemed no one else had done anything about it. He set the bucket down, and when he glanced over toward the cash registers he noticed that a few of the girls without customers were watching him. They quickly pretended to be doing something else when he sought out eye contact, and Loki rolled his eyes. He decided to keep his back to them, and commenced with the mopping.

This wasn't… terrible. It was easy to get done quickly, and once he had finished, Loki actually felt quite proud about how neat it looked. However, all his hard work was dashed only moments later when a herd of boys came barreling in.

"Are you guys still open?" one asked frantically, and Loki nodded as he glared down at their sopping wet feet. "Awesome!"

They then disappeared into the depths of the store toward a section that housed all of the program's study cheat sheets. His lip twitched irritably, and he set to work getting it dry for a second time, finishing only when the last of the customers filed out. Melissa appeared shortly after and told him to have a go at the back door as well – apparently the men doing stock pulls (whatever that might be) got water along the staff hallways too, and he soon found himself grumbling through almost twenty minutes of mopping.

When he resurfaced, he was promptly told to straighten out his section, as it was a disaster. Loki almost snapped at the portly woman; how was he supposed to keep all those aisles clean when she had him mopping somewhere else? If he had his full abilities intact, he could be in two places at once, but this current state of weakness made it a little difficult. However, a warning look cast by Max as she strolled by with a box in her hands made him keep his mouth shut, and he spent another fifteen minutes putting everything back in its proper spot. Melissa then preceded to hand him a broom and ordered him to sweep the aisles down too.

Time seemed to crawl by as he did his closing duties, but when he had finally finished, Max still had another twenty minutes to go before she would be even close to done. Irritated with the sight of just about everything in the store, Loki decided to wait for her in the locker room. He had no desire to chat with his new colleagues, nor did he like the way Melissa eyed him from the Information Desk at the back; it was easiest to hide out and wait for Max.

By the time she resurfaced in the room, the majority of the staff had already filtered through. They had all cast him looks that ranged from slightly curious to anxious as they awkwardly gathered their things, and Loki tried not to pay them much attention. When Max appeared, he threw his hands up and rose to his feet.

"Finally," he droned as he pulled his jacket on. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

"So, you're hired if you want to keep working," Max told him as she kicked off her shoes and slid into her bright green rain boots. "Melissa liked you."

"I noticed."

"And she decided to pay you in cash today," she continued, producing a small envelope for him. "Thirty-three dollars and eighty-four cents… Congratulations, you're a minimum wage worker."

He grabbed the envelope and looked inside, displeased with the pathetic amount, "That's all?"

"I pushed you up to four hours instead of three, so it's more than you should be getting," Max insisted as she finished dressing. "You'll do your paperwork next week when you officially start, but I think you'll need to work quite a bit to get on top of your credit card stuff."

"Are there any jobs out there that will pay more than this?" he demanded as he shoved the envelope in his pocket.

"You could be an escort," she laughed, and then quickly shook her head. "No, look… as a non-American with little work experience, this is as good as it gets. You're just lucky our state has a higher minimum wage than most."

"Yes, I'm so very lucky," Loki ground out. "The luckiest person on this entire planet."

"All right, Captain Dramatic," she sighed, twisting her hair up into a bun and gesturing toward the door. "Want to get some frozen yoghurt? You seem a little pissy."

"As did you today."

"Well, maybe we could both do with some," she stated. A small grin tugged at the sides of her lips, a charming one that forced him to smile back suddenly, and they disappeared out into the rain together; his stomach rumbled happily at the thought of frozen yoghurt once more.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Longest chapter thus far! Accomplishment! The first bit was written on the plane ride home, which was super awkward with flight attendants lurking. See my dedication to you all?

Anyway. Someone said they were ready for a lemon in their review – there's my response! Haha. Sorry it's not a legit lemon, but that won't happen for a while. We have a lot of ground to cover first!

Another reviewer asked if these were based off experiences with my college life etc. – some of them will definitely be. Profs not being there despite the fact it's their office hours? Yup. Loading too much shit into a frozen yoghurt for the first time and it costing over $10? Yup. Being told off at work because one thing wasn't done, despite the fact your manager just sent you to do something else? YUP. There's a mix of stuff that I did experience, stuff I've heard, and stuff that I haven't experienced. I do work in customer service part-time, so there may be the occasional rant that I think anyone who deals with the general public will understand pretty quickly.

Speaking of frozen yoghurt – I don't know how many of you are 9gaggers, but there was totally a post a few days after that chapter went up with people dressed as Loki and (I'm assuming) the Black Widow getting frozen yoghurt. The caption on the side was, "Get ALL the flavours!" I squealed.

I watched an interview today with our man Hiddles, and he was asked if Loki could ever go good, and he said yes really quickly. I sort of felt happily justified with my portrayal of Loki from that point on. Feeling good. I also figured he wouldn't be completely inept at working where he is... He isn't a total moron... just a little behind in the pop culture times.

As always, much love for all the responses! I'm on holidays right now, and my plan is to update my five current stories, with this being the first one. Soo, the next update might not be until next week. We'll see. Love, love, love!