Loki woke up early once more. He picked up his phone, dialing Luna's number. He'd given her the day off yesterday, figuring she'd need it.

It rang for a while, and Loki figured she probably would not answer. Right as he was about to hang up, Luna answered.

He heard shuffling for a few seconds before she spoke. "Lemme guess..."

Loki smiled silently. "I'll see you in twenty?"

There was a hesitation on the other end before she spoke, "More or less." Luna hung up on him. He frowned slightly but just shook his head. He'd already known Luna wasn't a good morning person after just waking up.

Today was the 17th, and the last day of fall break. Loki wanted to spend the majority of it with Luna.

Loki changed in the same attire he'd worn last time, strapping his iPod to his arm and jogging down the stairs two at a time. He was glad he didn't have to worry about running into Odin this time. He had left mid afternoon yesterday for one of his many business trips and wasn't due back till tomorrow morning.

Loki jogged into the kitchen, grabbing two water bottles and six granola bars. He went outside, sitting on his steps once more as he nearly inhaled his food.

He'd meant to have three for Luna and three for him, but by the time she rolled up he'd already eaten four.

Loki took a sip of his water, watching her shuffle out of her car and walk over. Loki glanced at his phone, noticing it had taken her twice as long to get here Maybe she didn't speed this time, or had trouble getting out of bed.

She'd worn the same things as last time, although her noticed she'd changed her navel piercing when she stopped to stand in front of him Last time, it had been a plain silver barbell with a baby blue gem in the center. Today, the top cap along with the barbell were both black, but the bottom cap was a vibrant red rose.

Loki averted his eyes, not wanting to stare at it or think about how he'd never realized until that moment how much he liked navel piercings.

He held out the two bars to her which she took without looking at him. She was looking at the space of air directly next to him. Loki stood as she tore one open, taking a bite of it. Luna looked at him then as she reached out for a water bottle. She walked past him slowly, going to the side of his house. Loki wrinkled his nose slightly, catching the scent of cigarettes. She probably smoked on the way here.

He sighed once but decided not to say anything about it. Luna was an adult, she could do what she wanted.

He followed her to his backyard, unlocking the side gate that Luna had climbed over instead of waiting for him.

Loki stood across the yard for a moment, watching as she knelt down on the ground, stretching her legs several times.

"You okay?"

Luna turned slightly to look at him over her shoulder, her lips pressing into the skin of her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm just tired. I had a long day yesterday."

Loki nodded once, walking over. "Oh?"

Despite his casual invitation for her to continue, Luna did not. Instead, she turned, shaking her arms and putting her head buds in. "Okay," She breathed in deeply, blowing out the air from her lungs. "Let's do this, shall we?" She began, and Loki frowned, following her as he caught up.

Luna was a little off in her running this time, much better this time the last time, stopping three times for a break, her breaths ragged.

Loki stopped with her, slicking his hair back. Luna leaned against a tree, breathing heavily. After a short minute, she shook her head a few times and pushed herself off.

"Okay, I'm ready."

For mostly the rest of the trail, they jogged side by side on the wide path. Loki glanced over at Luna several times, frowning every so often.

It wasn't till the very end that he realized something was really wrong. He heard Luna huff out an angry gust of air before she broke in a full out sprint ahead of him.

Loki stopped jogging for a moment, slowing a few feet as he watched her run around the curve. What the hell was that all about?

Loki picked up the speed again, turning the bend to see Luna leaning against a tree, her hands on her knees and head low just outside the clearing of his backyard and gated pool.

She was coughing, her back arching with the effort. Loki yanked out his ear buds.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?" He jogged over to her, gliding on his feet as he went to her.

Luna reached her arm out, waving him away as she wheezed slightly.

After a minute or two, Luna stood, leaning her head and back lightly against the tree behind her. She smiled over at Loki, eyes red.

"I smoked once after I woke up and two more times on the ride over." She chuckled, her voice a little husky. "Probably not a good idea."

Loki stood a few feet away from her, head cocked to the side with his brows pulled inward an a frown touching his features.

"I'd say so." He responded blankly, still staring at her face. Luna just laughed, rolling her head back and forth before she closed her eyes. Her breathing was getting back to normal now.

"Let me ask you again." Loki spoke, pausing a moment till Luna opened her eyes to stare at him. "How, really, are you?"

She chuckled softly, probably remembering something similar Loki had asked her once about her camping trip. Loki's expression didn't waver as she closed her eyes again. Luna opened then after a few seconds, and stared at him with a calm expression.

"You want to know what's wrong?" She responded in a calm, if not raspy voice.

Loki said nothing, but held his arms out before letting them drop, pulling out his ear buds and stuffed them in his pocket. Luna smiled slightly.

She reached pulled the aux cord of her ear phones out of her phone. Taking it off her arm band, Luna fiddled with it for a second before she held it out to him silently. She kept her face relatively blank.

Loki felt his face scrunch in confusion. He took her phone without looking at it for a moment, staring at Luna's face. She met his gaze stoically and sighed once.

Loki glanced down at her phone, his eyes looking at an internet page. He read the headline to an article that was pulled up, his eyes going down to read it.

He read the entire thing, Luna not speaking as he did. He was vaguely aware of her pushing off the tree and walking down the path a few steps, her back to him as she surveyed the forest.

After he finished, Loki glanced up at her back silently.

He said the first thing that popped in his mind. "Well this is weird."

Luna turned, glaring at him slightly. "What?"

He held out her phone to her, which she snatched from his hand and stuffed it back in her arm band.

"The fact they had those pictures. I wonder if they followed us." His voice, much like his expression, held curiosity. "I can see why you're upset." He supplied since Luna just stood there staring at him. "They said some awful things about your family."

Luna still, just stood there.

So Loki just stood there as well, staring back at her. He knew what she was thinking; it was written all over face and in her posture. She wanted to know what he thought about it; what he thought about her. If he thought it was true or not. But Loki still said nothing, waiting for her to ask.

Finally, after what felt like forever, she did. "And? You don't... you don't believe it?"

"Why would I?"

Luna stared at him, face betraying so many emotions. Hurt, confusion, worry, stress, disbelief. Loki watched all these things flit across her eyes, and he realized in that moment he did not want to see those expressions on her face ever again.

Luna spoke then.

"How... how can you not care?" She paused half a second, Loki not saying anything and keeping his face blank. "I mean, you don't even wonder if it's true? You don't think I'm a horrible person or something? You're just automatically okay with it?" Loki raised a brow but Luna didn't seem to notice. Her voice was getting a little shrill and he suspected she didn't notice herself.

He found his eyes going to her lips, watching as she spoke quickly. He was entranced by the shapes they made around her words. Luna gave a chuckle, and he looked back at her eyes. She laughed once in disbelief. "You seriously are okay with this?"

"Obviously it's not true." Was all Loki said.

Luna stared. "I mean, you don't won-"

Loki decided to cut her off. "We both obviously know it's not true. If it was, you probably would have made it very obvious or at least asked me a question or two about his company. You're a terrible liar and I would have noticed." He paused a moment, his lips twisting in a smile. "Except the stalking part. I'm pretty sure you did stalk me for a while there."

Luna stared at him aghast for a moment longer before she gave a soft laugh.

He frowned a bit then. "Well, I suppose that is a lie. It does bother me quite a bit in the way they portrayed you in the article. Mostly I'm curious who the 'insider' is. It's going to be intres-"

Loki stopped talking, looking up as Luna turned away suddenly, her shoulders shaking.

At first he thought she was crying, and walked forward a few steps before stopping.

She was... laughing?

Luna turned toward him after a bit, smiling as little chuckles left her body. She wiped the unshed tears out of her eyes.

"Oh Loki." Luna walked forward, standing before him and hugging him around the waist. She pressed her cheek against his chest and sighed. "Thank you."

Loki tensed for a moment before relaxing. He wrapped his long arms around her shoulders. "For what?"

"For making this entire things that much more bearable." She sighed again, closing her eyes in contentment. Loki felt his chest swell with emotion that hit him out of no where. Luna hugged him a little tighter and he took a deep breath, tilting his head to the sky and away from her.

After running, her skin was shiny with sweat and she no longer smelled like cigarettes. Luna smelt nice actually, as weird as that sounds. He got a whiff of her shampoo and felt his toes curl in his shoes at the lavender scent. He inhaled deeply, also smelling the scent of her deodorant, cherry blossom, which he figured was the type of soap she used. (All of it was actually not a bad combination actually.)

"She's going to be the death of me." Loki thought to himself. Luna pulled back slightly then, her arms not hugging him any more but her hands staying on his side. Loki's arms were still on her shoulders, his finger tips brushing against the skin of her shoulders and sending electricity up his arm and to his heart. She looked up into his face.

Loki looked down at her, and although there was a good foot and a half between their faces, he felt himself react.

"You're such a good guy Loki, really. I don't know what I would do without you." Luna smiled softly, her eyes twinkling brightly and her fingers tightened on his side ever so slightly before she began to let her hands drop.

Everything started happening in slow motion for Loki.

Loki's gaze met hers, and he looked into her eyes admiring them for a moment before they glanced down at her lips. She was so close, he didn't want her to move away. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Want coursed through his body, and Loki closed his eyes tightly as Luna took a step backwards. He wanted to be that person for her, he wanted to be able to comfort her and hold her close when she was upset.

Instead Loki just let her slip away. He let her step back and opened his eyes almost painfully, his hands clenched in tight fists at his sides. How could he be that person to her? Loki was not a good person to do those types of things. He did not know how to offer the things she needed from him. Loki didn't even know where to begin.

Luna smiled at him, wringing her fingers together in front of her.

"You busy today?" Luna asked him. It took Loki a moment to answer, sighing outwards deeply.

"No."

"Good. We're going to the mall or something. Maybe we can see a movie." Luna smiled, walking forward and passed him. Loki turned slightly, watching her walk around his house. They walked around the side of the house, ignoring the sliding glass door of the backyard since it was locked.

Loki walked around his house with Luna, staring at her in confusion when instead of going to his front door, she walked around to the back of her car.

Loki sauntered over, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stood behind her. Luna reached down, opening her trunk.

Loki laughed abruptly, throwing his head backwards slightly. Luna glanced over her shoulder at him.

"What?"

"If you had all this back here, why did you borrow my clothes the other day?" He asked, genuinely surprised, his earlier thoughts not forgotten but shifting to the back of his mind.

"Well you'd already gone and put them all on the nightstand and everything." She turned away from him, shuffling through her trunk. "I should have come and gotten some underwear though."

Loki shook his head, running his hand down his face once and laughed. Luna's car trunk was disastrous. Clothes of every kind were strewn around, she even had some flip flops and a pair of high heels back there. Loki watched as she shuffled through some jeans, eventually picking a light blue pair with frayed pant ends and a few holes. They were wrinkled, but for the most part in good condition.

"Is everything in there even clean?"

Luna snorted, not looking at him as she looked at a top. "Of course. They might be wrinkled, but all of these are fully clean. If I wear something I always wash it before putting it back."

Luna bent over, reaching in and pulling a big zip lock bag out of the back that was full of a few pairs of underwear.

Loki looked away casually, opening his mouth. "Why do have a closet in your trunk again?"

Luna shrugged. "I used to spend the night a lot with Tony at Clint's with Natasha and some of the others. Oh, and for our eighteenth birthday we went out to a club. I had some extra clothes in here in case anything happened." She gestured to the heels as she moved them aside.

"You went to a club?" Loki asked, interest peaked.

Luna shrugged, turning with a black racerback tank that had a white pattern of a tree on the front. "It was more like a rave. It was 18 and up and we thought it would be cool." She pursed her lips, nose crinkling in distaste. "It actually was fun, but Clint ended up punching a guy in the face for pushing Natasha when she refused to go home with him. We ended up getting kicked out before midnight and crashed at our place." She rolled her eyes. "I think Nat was more angry at Clint then the guy."

"Why?" Loki asked blankly, one side of his lips tilted up in a smile.

Luna shrugged slamming her trunk down and turning and fully standing before Loki. "Maybe she wanted to punch him herself. Anyway ready to go inside?"

He smiled slightly, inclining his head a little. "After you pack rat."

Luna mock glared at him but took the lead.

The walk in the house, up the stairs and down the hall to Loki's room was made in content silence. Loki opened the door for her, since she had clothes in her hers.

He motioned to the bathroom door, which was slightly ajar. "You can shower if you want to. I'll take one after you."

Luna laughed softly but moved into the bathroom to deposit her clothes. "Awwh shucks. Look at this. I'm gonna be in your shower." She laughed once. "Do you mind if I used your soap?"

Loki glanced towards the door as he ripped off his iPod and set it on his desk. He furrowed his brows and shook his head. Luna shot her head out side the door, smiling as she held up a bottle of hair conditioner and some body wash.

"Sure. Go ahead." He smirked. "I don't wanna smell your stink." She stuck her tongue out smiling at him and darted back into the bathroom, shutting the door.

Loki sighed out loud, gathering some black jeans and a dark green shirt from his closet along with some boxers.

He set them on his desk, waiting for Luna to be done. He leaned his head back, leaning backwards in his chair as he slid down slightly as he laid his legs in front of him.

Surprisingly, Luna did not take very long at all in his shower. It was less then ten minutes later when Luna walked out of his bathroom, shuffling a towel through her hair roughly. Loki looked up at her as she walked over and sat on the edge of his bed. Her jeans were form fitting to her legs, but were not necessarily skinny jeans since they bagged slightly around her knees and ankles. They smoothed out fine on her, making most of the wrinkles disappear, and hugged her hips the most.

Her tank top was long, going below the top of her jeans, but nearly skin tight to her curves and showered all off her shoulders.

She glanced up at him and he looked at her face. Her lips were parted slightly in a smile, her hair wild and wet pushed aside on one shoulder.

"You gonna shower now?" She asked, letting the towel fall against her knees. Loki nodded softly, standing and gathering his clothes. "I tried not to take all the hot water."

"Doesn't matter, I like it cold." Loki walked into the bathroom, his shower taking three times as long as Luna's. He let the cool water run over himself, putting his arms up against the wall and letting his head fall below his shoulders. It felt nice; relaxing despite the cold, almost icy water.

Loki eventually got out of the shower, drying and dressing. He walked out finally, buckling up his wide black belt as he looked over to Luna on his bed.

She had her back to him lying on her side. Loki barely glanced at her and already knew she was asleep.

A smile not completely of his doing tilted at his lips as he walked over. He leaned over her for a second before resting his hand on her shoulder and shaking softly. Luna groaned, turning slightly to look at him.

She blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes and turning on her side again. "You took so long." She muttered, snuggling into his pillow.

Loki laughed softly, his hand going from her shoulder to her arm. He sat on the bed for a moment next to Luna. For a long time Loki did not move his hand on her arm, his thumb stroking little circles on her skin. Luna said nothing about it in any case, although she was now awake.

Loki looked down at her and felt his earlier emotions go through him again.

He wanted to be a good person to Luna. To comfort and hold her when she was upset. Loki wanted to be close to her in all the ways he could.

He closed his eyes tightly, two sides of himself fighting fiercely in his head.

Loki sighed outwards, his chest shaking. He laughed at himself silently at his nervousness. In a slow movement, Loki turned to lie down on his side, his front facing Luna's back.

Luna moved slightly, but otherwise did not react. Loki's one arm went under her arm that was resting on top of her waist to the front, his finger lazily brushing against the top of her belly. He felt Luna tense her shoulders rolling and her breath speed up.

He rest his head on the pillow, squeezing his arm under her body and pulling her against him.

"Loki..." Luna breathed out, trying to turn in his embrace.

Loki tightened his arms slightly before relaxing, letting her turn towards him. Luna's hands went up between them, resting softly on his chest between them. She tilt her chin down, moving her eyes to look up at his. Loki tilted his head down a little, since he was lying a little higher on the pillow then her.

"Loki..." She whispered again, and sighed softly.

Before Loki knew it; before he even had a second to think, he reacted.

Loki's hand on her waist, pulled her forward gently. Luna's brows pulled together and she leaned her head back.

His right hand went from the top of her waist to her cheek, which then went around to tangle into the hair at the nape of her neck, fingertips brushing against her skin. She clutched his shirt tightly, wrinkling the fabric and Luna opened her lips slowly, about to speak.

Loki 's fingers tightened in her hair slightly, earning a delicious gasp from Luna instead of words. His eyes went a bit hazy as he looked at the blush spread across her cheeks.

Not waiting another second, Loki bent his head and kissed her softly.


Mauhahah. :) Cliffhanger, eh?

I sort of proof read this one, but no doubt you will find many mistakes. I apologize.