Giggling I fell against the freezing stonework of the hall, alternating between batting my eyelashes playfully at both Thor and Loki, though admittedly a bit more seriously at the latter, and lightly pushing them as I galloped a few more yards ahead out of their reaches.
I had managed to hold it together until I left the feasting hall, though I admit my well eve's to my newfound friends were probably warmer than if I had been sober. It was only once I was far enough away that I let loose the energy that swamped me when I drank.
"Betcha can't catch me." I hop-skipped backwards and leveled my gaze at Loki though my words were directed at both of them.
"And what would I get if I do?" Loki's eyes traveled over my form, shining with laughter as I tripped over my feet and nearly somersaulted down the hall.
My yelp faded as I managed to straighten myself out and I faced forward again, deciding that with my level of intoxication I shouldn't deprive myself of any advantage in order to staying upright. "Hmm…how about a good night kiss?" I grinned and shot a glance over my shoulder at him, it'd be easy enough to just kiss him on the cheek and leave him angry. He seemed to consider it and I looked forward again concentrating on the placement of each of my steps. It took me a few seconds to place the sound I heard behind me as running and I whirled around hands up. "Time out!"
Loki stopped short and tilted his head to the side. "Time's out?"
"Time out, it means the game stops until I say time in. There have to be rules." I slowly lowered my hands when I was content that he wouldn't keep moving forward. "Rule one, if I get through the threshold of my bedroom I win, no coming in after me." He nodded a slow vicious smile curling on to his lips. "Rule two, clones don't count." His face grew the smallest bit more reserved and he nodded.
"Anything else?" His voice purred and in that moment I knew I had already lost. The beer making my usual easy blush last longer on my cheeks.
"Rule three; you have to be able to hold me for at least three seconds. None of this brushing my hair and saying it counted crap." I swallowed heavily my breath uneasy.
"Fair enough. I have a rule of my own to add." His eyes narrowed like a cat regarding its prey and I could almost see him wiggle with the energy that would explode in his run.
"Go on…" My eyes never left him but I could see Thor laughing at the both of us from off to the side.
"Your kiss." My world spun as he spoke and I could barely breathe for waiting for him to speak again.
"Yes?" I said finally unable to bear the note that hung in the air between us.
"I expect it to be a proper kiss, "none of this brushing my cheek with your lips and saying it counted crap."" He smirked as though he knew what he did to me and wetting my dry lips with my tongue I nodded.
"Deal." I was surprised that I could speak at all and so that I wouldn't have time to think twice about what I was doing yelled. "Time in!" I took off like a shot, using the half second that it look Loki to realize what I had said to sprint down the hall. We weren't that far from my room and that knowledge spurred my unsteady feet onwards. I could hear his steps pounding on the floor as he raced after me. It was all I could do to keep running and hope that he was slower than me, it would have been easier in pants but still the skirt was loose enough that I could throw my legs far enough apart to propel myself forward faster than he expected. I could feel the breeze of his hand as he just missed grabbing my shoulder and dashed around a column, weaving between them and back around in an attempt to avoid him. "Can't catch me!" I shouted and dodged his grasp again, moving on to the next pillar.
I wasn't expecting to hear it but he was laughing, with each miss his laughter grew louder, more natural. The sound shocked me so much that my feet stopped moving for a moment, letting him get closer to me than before.
"You can't escape me forever." His voice was a low growl and I groaned. I could see my room from my position up against the marble and I made a mad dash towards it. Loki's arm shot out from behind me and snagged my wrist just as I stretched my hand out to touch the frame of my door. "Caught you." He pulled me close against his chest and purred his words in my ear. "I believe you owe me something."
Shivering I raised my eyes to meet his. "Let it never be said that I'm not a woman of my word." My tongue slid across my lips nervously and I tangled my fingers into his hair pulling him down to me. I so badly wanted to blame my desire for him on the alcohol but I knew that it would be lie. My heart pounded in my ears as his lips met mine, electricity shooting through my body repeatedly until I pressed myself even harder against him. With a soft whimper I bit his lower lip, my other arm moving to drape across his shoulder as he pushed me back against the wall. Eventually we parted and despite my lack of sobriety I was sure that I wasn't the only one who was breathing harder.
"Wow…" I looked up at him from beneath my eyelashes, the blush feeling pleasant for once.
He returned the same look, still holding me in his arms. "Indeed. Would you-"
"Am I going to have to separate you two?" Thor's voice rang out from behind us and I turned my head, still draped lazily against the wall.
"I forgot you existed." I said honestly and laughed, pushing Loki away with my hand on his chest. "I should probably get to bed anyway I've had far too much to drink. Well eve Thor" I pushed myself off the wall and waved to him before turning my eyes to Loki. "And a very well eve to you Loki." My fingertips grazed against his cheek, and I moved past him wishing I could invite him in with me. I could feel his muscles arch into my fingers as though he longed to be touched and I shivered.
Loki bowed low, sweeping his arm across his chest, his words seeming to have fled him for the moment. Sated smile on my face I stepped in past the threshold and shut the door behind me turning enough to see Loki's smirk until the very last.
. . .
I lay sprawled, still clothed in the gown, on the mattress staring up at the ceiling. It had been hours and the pleasant burn of alcohol still raged through my body. Finally I pushed myself up and began to unlace my dress, slipping it up and over my shoulders before draping it over the footboard. Elli or one of the girls under her charge had brought a selection of long nightshirts for me to sleep in and I quickly changed into one of the looser fitting ones, watching it drape to my thighs as it fell partway off my shoulder.
A knock at the door caught my attention and expecting Elli I walked over and opened it, shaking out my hair as I walked across the floor.
"There you are Elli." I spoke even before I had opened the door and nearly yelped as a man's broad shoulders filled my vision. "Oh!" I stepped back, my hand flying to my face as I saw Loki's eyes gleam. "Shouldn't you be in your room?" A small smirk graced my lips and he set a hand against the door.
"Thor's still watching so I'll be good." He blinked slowly flicking his eyes down across my form and back. "It occurred to me that if you need something important in the night that you don't know where either Thor or I have our chambers. And I somehow managed to convince Thor that that was the only reason I wanted to come back." He gave me a look. "Or he's letting me believe that I convinced him of that. I admit it probably wasn't my subtlest play." The smile he gave was earnest and I felt myself smiling in response.
"So?" My voice purred despite the fact that I tried to keep it from doing so. "Where do you two sleep?"
I could see him groan and the hand that had been at his side tightened into a fist. "We're the last two rooms at the end of the hall to the left; Thor's room first then mine. If you need anything just knock. Thor's a heavy sleeper so you may have to pound on the door a bit but he should wake up, and if you can't wake him just come get me."
"Thank you." My words were sincere but I shivered and crossed my arms under my chest. "If you'll excuse me, I'm freezing."
For a second he raised his hand as though to reach out and touch me and then dropped it again. "Stay warm." He said softly and leaned forward pressing his lips gently to my burning cheek. Before I could say anything he turned and vanished back down the hall leaving me to shut the door and walk back to my bed in a stupor.
Pulling the furs in tightly around me I l stretched out on my back. Quietly I resumed my vigil of staring at the ceiling but my mind couldn't stop seeing the way his body practically pulled towards me, how bright and animated his eyes were when he spoke. My breathing hitched and I arched my spine off the bed remembering his heat, moving as though I could still feel him. My fingers tangled tightly in the blankets around me.
"Gods! That man isn't fair." I sat up again snarling and swinging my legs off the bed. Still there was something in the way he moved when I touched him, as though he ached to be touched by anyone be it for ill or for good. The thought sobered me for a moment and I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Finally deciding that I didn't want to fight it anymore I stood and dropped the furs so that they pooled around my feet. "Of course I couldn't have felt this way about someone easier." I grumbled and stalked to the bathroom grabbing one of the vessels I had seen earlier when I was taking my bath. "Laugh it up Moirai." I shook my fist at the sky and sighed.
It was late but not so late that people weren't still roaming the halls. Slipping from my room the jug still looped around my finger I made my way from column to column, hiding behind them each time someone walked past. With each step I fought turning back, I was terrified of what I was doing but my feet seemed to have a mind of their own and I quickly found myself in front of what I assumed was Loki's bedchamber door. Swallowing hard I raised my hand and knocked before I could think better of it.
"Brother, I swear if you taunt me about her one more time I'll freeze your tongue to a sword." Loki's voice was cross and I could hear him walking across the floor. I tried hard to smother my laughter and the chuckling died on my lips when I heard the jostling of the doorknob. It was his turn to come up short, his eyes focused on the top of my head as though he had expected someone taller.
"I trust I won't have to worry about you freezing my tongue to anything?" I asked a smirk finding its way to my lips.
"I… are you alright?" His brow furrowed and he stepped back opening the room to me. I stepped in past him, holding the jug low by my opposite side. The spell that Odin had put over the room apparently didn't prevent anyone from entering and for that I was grateful
"No..." His eyes grew serious. "But I will be." The worry faded from his gaze but still he regarded me. "I…" My voice caught in my throat and I swallowed hard. "There's something I want to do for you." I could see a delicate blush rise to his cheeks, turning the pale skin red. "Will you let me?"
"I-" Loki's voice fled him as I set my fingers against his chest and softly pushed him back towards the bed, shutting the door as I did so.
"Take off your clothes." My voice was as soft and calm as I could make it and my eyes as gentle. "If you have a loincloth I might suggest getting into that."
"By the nine, what are you planning?" Loki seemed to throw off the nerves that had gotten to him before and I allowed myself a small grin.
"You'll find out as soon as you put on a loincloth." I teased and let my shoulder brush against him as I walked past. "Go on-" I set the jar down on the floor and put my hands over my eyes in a dramatic flourish. "I promise I won't look."
I hadn't heard him move but his voice was directly in my ear. "And if I wanted you to?" I felt my cheeks heat up and thanked all the gods I knew that I couldn't see him looking at me.
"Not tonight. Ask me again tomorrow." My words were bolder because of my lack of sight and I felt him lightly touch my wrist.
"Very well." I put my hands down and looked over him taking in each of the pale scars that corresponded to one of the wounds he had had in my dreams.
"You seem to have healed fast." I set my hand against his side and his arm, surprised but pleased that someone who actually knew what they were doing seemed to have taken over his medical care.
"After you took me from the cell Odi…" He looked in my eyes for a split second. "father, decided that it would be better if you were to find me better condition than I was left."
Gently pushing on his hip I guided him towards the bed. "Smart of him." The smirk on my face easing into a true smile the longer I touched him. "Lie down on your stomach please."
With narrowed eyes Loki crawled onto the bed, long sinewy muscles moving as he laid himself flat, his head still turned to watch me curiously. With half lidded eyes I knelt on the bed next to him, reaching down to grab the small jug I had brought and setting my hand in the middle of his back. I could feel the intensity of his gaze on me and watched his brow furrow as I tipped the jar just enough for a thin line of oil to fall across the back of my hand. Warmed by my skin the oil flowed down onto him and I set the jar down again.
Sliding my free hand along the back of the other I moved and knelt closer to him, putting enough pressure in my palm to feel his stiff muscles move under my touch. Closing my eyes I focused on his breathing, slowly matching each inhale and each exhale with one of my own. The oil made it easy for my skin to slide along him and with each movement up across his back I could feel him relax further into the bed. I didn't even have to open my eyes to see what I was doing; I could feel each knot in his back and listened to the little sighs of pleasure that escaped his lips as each of those knots was loosened. My hands worked from the base of his skull down to the top of his sacrum, his skin heating up beneath my fingers as I eased the tension there.
"Put your arms out to the side." My voice seemed far away and I watched with a detached kind of pleasure as he did as I asked. My hands moved up his back, fanning out so that my thumbs rested on either side of his spine, leaning into it I could hear him give a low groan his head arching up off the bed through the sound. Moving both of my hands to his left shoulder I added more oil and began my ministrations again, kneading the wiry muscles of a man who had spent a lifetime in training. "Let me know if I press to hard alright?" I watched him nod and went back to unknotting what seemed to be years of tension in the connection of his arm to his shoulder.
Slowly I worked my way around his body, from his back to his shoulders then down to his legs. Finally I brought myself back enough into myself to really look down at him. "Turn over." His soft groan made me smile and I took my other hand away, setting the remaining one on his shoulder. "Turn over." There was a gentle insistence in my tone and finally and slowly Loki turned to lie on his back. "Same thing here, if I push too hard let me know." Loki's eyes fluttered, still closed and he nodded. With a relaxed smile I closed my eyes and began to work again; starting just up below his jaw and running my hands down his neck to the outside of his hips, working the entirety of his thighs, kneading hard to get the gracilis muscle to untense. I could feel him shift under me while I worked there and I opened my eyes in time to watch his lips fall open in a silent moan.
I admit, I knew the effect that massage could have on the body, but I still got a thrill of pleasure watching him arch lazily beneath my hands. I sighed, as much as I wanted to keep my hands playing there it wasn't the vibe I was hoping to accomplish tonight and so reluctantly I moved my hands to his knees, I smiled when he whimpered at the loss of my hands so near where he craved, and then moved on to his calves and ankles flexing each of them in turn. Finally drawing up and pressing the meat of my hand hard against the bottom of his feet and massaging there.
He was nearly catatonic by the time I moved back up to his arms, my movements there eventually ending as I worked his fingers between mine, easing the tendons apart to remove the stiffness and curling and stretching his fingers. My eyes regarded him and I carefully moved his arms next to his body, shifting to grab the nearest blanket and laying it across him. For a moment I stopped, he had fallen asleep sometime after he had turned over though his throat still occasionally made little whimpering moans. Now would be the perfect time to leave but I just couldn't. It took me another few minutes to finally convince myself that I had done everything I could for the night, when I had managed that I was finally able to ease myself off the bed.
"Mother…" Loki's voice was soft and I could see his brow wrinkle. Sighing I climbed back on the mattress by his head and lightly stroked from his temples into his hair, a nightmare now could undo everything and I didn't want it to go to waste. At least that's what I was telling myself in my head, my heart however screamed the truth at me that I didn't want him to be sad.
The buzz from the alcohol had been fading since halfway through my work on him replaced by a kind of meditative state. Though in a half dream state I kept my hands working along his cheekbones and lightly dragging my nails across his scalp, occasionally giving a light pull to his hair to release endorphins. Time drifted away from me and eventually my eyes closed, my fingers still sliding through the softest hair I had ever felt.