You know, it feels ridiculously great when you have the entire plotline written down. Like, I am so freaking excited to write this story. Tis gonna be awesome. It's gonna take a while, though. A loooooong time. So much to do. I'll just take it a chapter at a time. Like always. :)

Chapter Thirteen: The Universe Facepalms

Loki emitted a silent frustrated sigh. He was currently stuck in the counselling hall with several hundred nobles for a court case that was becoming exceedingly tedious. The counsel was getting nowhere with their decision and, though Loki knew exactly what was going on at this point, it would reflect badly on himself if he were to intervene.

Thor had given up only minutes after the case had started, sneaking out the back when only Loki was looking. Loki was starting to wonder if the oaf might actually have some sense in him. It'd be nothing short of a miracle, though.

Rubbing his temples in frustration, Loki finally gave in. He passed his notes to a bewildered young counselman and stood to leave. The young prince caught his mother's eye briefly and her gaze seemed understanding.

Then he was gone.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Loki released a sigh of relief as he strolled down the corridor. He was finally free… or at least for a few hours. The prince made his way down to the library. The Asgardian Halls of Knowledge were quite impressive, but severely underused. However, Loki spent the majority of his time in the oaken corridors.

The dark-haired prince inhaled deeply as he opened the massive doors. The scent of old books, parchment, ink, and wood rushed over him in a wave of delight. Loki made his way towards his favorite spot in the library. Suddenly he froze. He heard voices around the corner. Loki frowned. He listened silently. There was a muffled giggle.

Oh Norns no. Loki's mood plummeted immediately. He cloaked himself and peeked around the corner. There, a young palace guard and a giggly noble girl stood snogging. It was really quite disgusting.

Loki realized he knew the girl. She had been one in a group of snobby nobles' daughters who were honestly nothing but shallow kiss-ups… sometimes literally. His normally sour attitude toward them had worsened last week when they had all laughed at him after Thor had made him choke on his wine. The golden prince tended to "pat" people on the back at entirely the wrong moment. Loki remembered the burning feeling of the liquid going down the wrong pipe. It was honestly not funny.

And now here she was snogging with some guard- who was probably skipping responsibilities- in Loki's library. It was bad enough that no one used the library. Now people were using it as some secret make-out corner.

The couple paused to breathe. The platinum blonde giggled again.

"You know what we should do?" she whispered.

The guard grinned, "What?"

"No one reads these books anyways. We should write our initials in one of them!" she whispered even softer.

Loki almost punched a wall. OH NO YOU DON'T! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY BOOKS!

He angrily flicked his fingers in their direction.

Suddenly the guard backed away from the girl, fear in his eyes.

"What?" she laughed, confused, "You can't care that much about those old- "

The blonde froze as she felt something shift on her head.

Loki grinned maliciously. That'll teach the little viper to respect my library.

The young woman screeched as she realized her carefully piled hair had suddenly occupied itself with a nest of snakes. She fled the library screaming for someone to get them off. The guard followed panickedly trying to swat some of them out of her hair.

Loki allowed himself a low chuckle before uncloaking himself and heading once again to his favorite alcove.

And here we have Loki being a little turd. But in his defense, I probably would've done the same. NO oNE ToUcHES MY BOoKS. I guess this is just a little character development/filler chapter.