Date Night

It was a lovely evening in June. Even in London it was dry and warm. Unfortunately this apparently drove the Londoners and the tourists out of their dens and they all seemed to be coming here. So far the day had been great. But now Loki was working hard to hide his growing irritation from a happily grinning Hermione whose arm was around his waist. They were standing in line for a ride on the London Eye.

Humans and their fondness of queues! Apparently the British were the world-champions regarding this annoying custom. You had to do it in the supermarket, when you wanted a taxi. Just. Fucking. All. The. Time! Well, he would have to bear it. He was pretty sure that if he followed his urge to just skip to the front and intimidate, or, if necessary, kill everyone who so much as frowned at him, it would ruin the date, so … He smiled back at Hermione and tried to focus on the good things.

Hermione seemed to sense a little of it though: "Thanks so much again! I really did not expect this. It's going to be great." She gave him a little squeeze. "I wish we could have a cabin to ourselves."

"Believe me, so do I. I'm glad you like the idea." Waiting here was still bad, but a little less annoying already. Loki took a look around. Of course in comparison to Asgard, London was not very impressive, but right now it had its charms. The sun had just set but still illuminated a few clouds and made them shine in various shades of purple, pink and light grey. The sky was this lightly-tinted shade of blue of the short time between sunset and night. Across the water Westminster Abbey shone golden and the lights of the city were reflected in the water of the Thames. But nothing impressed him as much as the pretty girl at his side. Now that the sun was gone it became slightly chilly. Loki pulled Hermione tighter against himself: "Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?"

She looked up at him, smiling: "No, I think you keep me warm okay."

Finally, it was their turn. "A cabin for two, please!" Loki said and gave the ticket guy more money than was necessary.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but we don't..."

Loki interrupted him mid-sentence. He gave the man an intense stare and in a patient but very commanding tone said: "Yes, you do give us a cabin for two." Hermione felt a surge of magic touch her that gave her goosebumps. She was too fascinated to protest. No wand, no incantation, nothing. But whatever Aidan had done, it worked! The ticket guy's expression became empty and he just said: "Very well, Sir!" and waved them through. It was kind of creepy.

"Um…," she said when they had entered the cabin, wanting to talk about what had just happened, but she was silenced with a long and gentle kiss, and when it was over, they were already well in the sky above London. She decided that any discussion of what had just transpired would have to wait. The view was breathtaking!

For a while they just sat there in silence, she in his arms, and looked at the spectacular view and now and then at each other. "You're beautiful," Loki said, his voice hoarse. With a shock he realized that he was not acting. Hermione blushed and looked away shyly. "Nonsense," she said, but she was obviously pleased. And they kissed again.

Hermione pulled away. "Look, I could kiss you all night, but I'll never forgive myself if I don't show you at least a few sites while we're up here."

Loki wasn't in the mood for sightseeing right now. "We could just do this again another time and you show me then," he whispered in her ear. "You're more interesting than all of this." He made an engulfing gesture with his arms. "But I was looking forward to..." Hermione said. Loki frowned playfully. "Very well. Enlighten me! You've got three minutes."

"Well, let's start right below us with Westminster Abbey and Big Ben right on the other side of the river. Turn north..." All of a sudden Loki began to feel really uneasy. He heard a very faint whizzing noise. More like a vibration in the air, a certain, very familiar frequency. It came closer. He became slightly nervous. If he had been a human, his hands would probably have started sweating. Another unsavoury human thing. But he wasn't.

And there it was. Loki saw a flash of red and shiny armour speed in their general direction. Oh no! What was Thor doing in Europe? Hopefully not here on his account? Well, probably not, since he was literally dead to him. Whatever the reason, Thor was not going to ruin this for him, Hermione would not see him! In one fluid movement, he spun her around, pulled her close and kissed her again. She gave a little surprised squeak. Cute. And, even better: Thor had passed them. He relaxed a little and stopped the kissing. "Right, where were we?"

"You're naughty!" Hermione scolded but in a flirty manner. She smiled and her cheeks glowed from the heat of the kiss.

"Oh, you have no idea!" he replied.