"So, Janan." I grinned. "How old do I look like?"

"Hmm, why?" She asked back playfully, and I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Just asking."

"We don't do age here in Sakaar," Morven, one of Janan's friends with tentacles, slurred. I had no idea if he spoke like that because he was drunk, or because he was an alien. Maybe a little bit of both.

"But I've been here for only a day!" I protested, brushing my shoulder with Janan's. "You could try to guess?"

"Okay." She said, and tipped my chin downward. "I'm thinking, two hundred?"

"Nah, she looks way younger than that!" Janan's other friend, the one whose name sounded like...Kevin, but wasn't. I honestly didn't remember. He had scales, instead of skin, though. "I'll go with a hundred fifty."

I nodded slowly. "You guys have no grasp of a human's life span, do you?"

"You're human?" Janan asked excitedly. "I've never met a human before!" She slung an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. "How old are you?"

I stuttered, because I was pretty sure she was flirting. My brain processors just stopped on that thought. She was flirting with me. What do I do? What do I do? What do I-

"I think it's none of your buisness," A low voice said, detaching her arm from my body.

"Who are you?" Janan asked, eyes narrowed, and Loki smiled coldly.

"Loki Laufey-"

"I meant, what do you have to do with Regi?"

He glanced at me. "I'm her..." He waved a hand in the air. "Acquaintance. Guard, I guess you can also say. So if I could borrow Miss Lee for a moment?"

He wasn't exactly asking, of course. Loki held my elbow and lead me away from the group, as I mouthed Catch you later back at a disappointed Janan.

"Wait-wait. Where are we going?" I planted my feet on the ground once I realized I had no idea where Loki was going, and he looked genuinely annoyed, letting out a deep breath.

"Keeping you safe, as per our deal?"

"Safe from what? We were just talk-"

"Don't you have eyes? She's clearly-"

"Flirting with me. What wrong with-"

"Everything! She's a Crengarian!" He said in a hushed angry voice, and I blinked.

"Can we backtrack? Because I have no idea what you're talking about."

Loki snorted. "Of course you wouldn't know what a Crengarian is."

"Enlighten me, then." I spat out.

We stopped, next to the windows, a safe distance away from Janan and her friends.

He sighed. "Crengarians are-"

"NEWCOMERS!" A voice boomed from the speakers and again, I almost had a heart attack. I hiccuped. "Join the stage!"

We shared a look.

"I'm guessing that's us?"

He lead the way to the Grandmaster's stage, my hiccuping refusing to die down. It would have been super embarrassing, if it wasn't super annoying. But I guess it was a bit of both.

The Grandmaster looked dapper as always, a blue line down his lips and onto his chin and a gold robe that shined in the spotlight. His faithful sidekick, Topaz was by his side like a typical faithful sidekick. I eyed the melt stick in her hands. I did not want that to be used on me. I hiccuped again, and clutched at my mouth. Fuck this.

"Hi, guys." The Grandmaster said cheerfully. "Enjoying my party?"

"Of course," Loki answered. "Thank you, Grandmaster, for letting us take part in this joyous occasion."

The Grandmaster giggled. "Oh, he talks pretty," He said to Topaz, who merely grunted in response. "I like you. What's your name?"

Loki looked slightly bedazzled.

"Loki Laufeyson. We have a favour to ask you however," He started, and the older man nodded.

"Mm?"

"We hadn't exactly planned our arrival here in Sakaar, unfortunately. So, we don't have a place to stay for a while. We were hoping-"

"You can stay." The Grandmaster waved his hand dismissively. Then, he paused. "I heard you killed two of my people on the streets."

Loki stiffened, and I hiccuped. "Excuse me," I muttered.

"Yes...?" Loki answered carefully, and the Grandmaster, after a very scary moment, grinned.

"Thank you! I had been meaning to serve them death by the melt stick over there, but they escaped my clutches about a week ago. So, I owe you one. You can stay as long as you'd like!"

"Oh, thank God," I sagged, and the Grandmaster turned to me.

"And who are you, beautiful one?"

I beamed at the praise.

"I'm Regis. Lee."

"And how are you two connected? Is he your father? Boyfriend? Son?"

I made a face. "Do I look old enough to be his mom?"

He wriggled his eyebrows. "Appearances can be deceiving,"

Okay, no way did I look like Loki's mom. The Grandmaster was a really weird person. "I'm not his mom. Or girlfriend. Or daughter. He's just my..." I glanced at him, and smirked. "Bodyguard."

He gave me this murderous look that had me grinning, and the Grandmaster nodded. "Okay, okay. Get us some drinks!" He yelled to another waiter that was passing by, and a glass was shoved into my hand. I hiccuped again, glaring at the glass.

I mean, I wanted to try it. But I didn't know what alien booze was like. What if it was like drugs, and you couldn't get over the taste or something? What if you got addicted?

I was too young to waste my life becoming an alcoholic.

That was the reason I had given my previous drink to Morven, who had gulped it up vigorously. But now, with the Grandmaster staring expectantly at us...

I leaned to Loki. "Isn't there supposed to be someone that checks your ID?" I whispered.

"ID?" He murmured back.

"I mean, your age. What if I'm like a minor or something?"

"Who cares?" He threw back the drink, then frowned. "Wait, are you?"

"What are you whispering about?" The Grandmaster asked, leaning forward, and I hiccuped. I remembered that line from the movie. The older man turned to me. "Well, how old are you?" I guess he had been listening.

I was not saying fourteen. I mean, Loki was over a thousand years old. If I said I was fourteen, I could just imagine how he would react. A disbelieving smirk, and then he would never listen to what I say again.

Nope. Not going to happen.

"I'm 226 years old," I said blankly, and Loki shrugged.

"You're not a minor, then. Young, but of age."

226 was young? Wow. Bloody Asgardians.

The Grandmaster smirked. "Don't worry about your age. On any other world I'd be like, millions of years old. But here on Sakaar..." He drifted off to a confused silence. I shared a look with Loki.

"You look really young," I told him, because, I mean, I saw this movie five times and still think he's cute. He is cute. Just mildly terrifying to be around for real.

"Thank you," He said, again, wriggling his eyebrows. "I'll let Topaz show you to your room, then. You can always come back to the party. Mondays are orgies, Tuesdays are parties, and Wednesdays are..." He shrugged. "I think they're orgies again."

Loki smiled somewhat forcefully. I was pretty sure he had no interest in orgies. Maybe he did. Probaby not. What are orgies, anyway?

The Grandmaster started tapping away at his keyboard. "Oh, and Topaz. Give them the room next to the champion's. Also, make sure they have clearance. We don't want our guest to be electrocuted to death like last time, right?" He winked at Loki, and I hiccuped again. Electrocuted? Seriously?

Topaz lead the way out of the room, using another elevator this time, and I heard the music get louder behind our backs. I dropped my glass on a waiter's plate just before the doors closed. Maybe I'll get my alcoholic experience next time, preferably with responsible adults around. Compared to Loki, even Tony was a responsible adult.

God, Stark. Wanda. Strange. I just disappeared on them.

I bet Tony and Stephen were fighting now. They were almost always fighting. I winced. Tony was probably blaming Strange, and Strange was probably blaming Loki. I glanced at Loki.

He wasn't bad. I mean, he kinda was, but at least he wasn't to me. Because he needed me. He wanted to live, and I was the key. I think that meant I could trust him. Hopefully.

An idea flashed into my mind, and I nudged his arm. "Can you give me the slingring back?"

He glanced at me. "Earth is too far to use it."

"But still," Loki handed me the ring, and I slipped it on.

I focused, then cried out immediately as a piercing headache hit me. I staggered.

It was impossible. I couldn't even feel a tingle, just a overwhelming headache that disappeared as soon as I stopped trying to locate Earth. I opened my eyes, and saw Loki looking smugly at me.

"Told you."

I sighed, too tired to even think up of a clever comeback. I just wanted to crash. Preferably in a bed.

The elevator stopped, and we followed Topaz down the corridor. I realized, dimly, that we were on Hulk's floor. The biggest room down the hallway with two guards outside was Hulk's. Well, Bruce Banner's.

Ugh. I could feel another headache coming on as I realized next I probably had to try to turn Hulk back to his human form. And contact the Valkyrie, and try to get her on our side. All without getting electrocuted or eaten or becoming an alcoholic.

Life sucked.

"Wait," I said to Topaz who stopped in front of a door right next to one of the power ranger guards. "There's only one room?"

She looked at me unimpressed. "It's a big room."

"Uh, we're two people."

"You said he was your bodyguard."

"But I didn't mean-"

"The room's passcode is 0000. You can reset it." Then she walked away. I made the universal gesture for what? with my arms to her back, not daring to look at Loki. I could just feel his glare without looking at him. Fuck.

"I get the bed," He muttered after a moment, and punched in the code. I rolled my eyes, as I followed him into the coop.

"As long there's a couch," I answered, and paused once I actually had the room in sight.

Topaz was right. It was a big room.

The bed was huge, the couch was huge, and that was it. Nothing else. The emptiness emphasized the size of the room. There was another door, probably a bathroom, on the right side of the bed, and the left wall was all glass. The color theme was horrible, red and white, but aside from that it was a nice space. I could imagine spending a few weeks in here. It would be boring as hell, but still.

Better than dying horribly. I plopped down on the couch, looking out at the scenery.

It was messy. Spaceships flying around without coordination, and I could see the wasteland over the city. Thor found the Quinjet in there, I remembered. The part that sucked was that I couldn't even do anything with that information. I had to wait weeks for Thor to actually appear and find that ship himself. I hated feeling useless, dependent.

But, the situation demanded it.

I lied down, using an arm as a pillow. "It all worked out," I said out loud.

"Specifically because I killed people."

I snorted. "Yeah. I didn't see that coming."

"Well. A few decapitation never did anyone wrong." Aside from the ones who lost their heads. "We're not staying here forever, are we?"

"Of course not. Thor's going to be here in a few weeks." I sighed. "Until then, party on, Loki."

"Aren't you coming with me? I'm going to go socialize, try to find a ship or some clothes." He paused. "I don't need you, per se, but...it would be helpful."

"Sorry, I'm properly tired." I turned my head to grin sheepishly at him. "But, do get me some clothes. I think you know my size, right?"

He rolled my eyes. "Not because I wanted to."

"Yeah yeah." I shooed him. "Go along, then. I like black. And navy. Do not buy me pink."

And I knew.

I knew immediately, from that glint in his eyes, that all the clothes I was going to get from him were pink.

Hey! My hiccuping stopped!