Here's a smaller chapter than usual but still almost 5k words! I hope you guys enjoy this one, it was very fun to write! xD

Hydrangeas Say Our Family Will Flourish

Chapter Thirty-Six: An Old "Acquaintance"

For a few hours four days a week, Aster and Kari attended their early education with their tutor in the library; the security was ramped up to the point that there were two guards on each entrance and exit, with an additional two guards standing watch at the back of the room while the children were taught simple mathematics, the alphabet, and how to write.

After just one week, Kari could count to fifteen and Aster could write her name and a few three letter words like 'dog and 'cat'.

Amelia was pleasantly shocked by their impressive ability to grasp numbers and letters so quickly, while Loki was unsurprised but proud; it wasn't abnormal for them to be so swift to understand how to write and do sums given how quickly he himself picked it up as a child, but that didn't stop him from praising the kids readily.

He wouldn't make the same mistake his father made with him; as a child his achievements were never enough for Odin, he always needed to try harder, but no matter how hard he tried with his studies, his father was never impressed. While Loki was going to encourage his children to study hard, he wasn't going to be sparing with telling them how brilliantly they were doing.

Positive reinforcement worked wonders, as he had learnt years ago with Amelia during her self defense classes with Natasha. Congratulating his wife on doing a good job worked a million times better than telling her she needed to try harder, and it was the same with Aster and Kari.

"I'm so proud of you two," Loki told his children as they all walked through the gardens to Aster and Kari's favourite playing spot. The sight of their smiling faces filled him with warmth and made him feel like he must have been doing something right to be awarded such a visage.

He had a little surprise planned for the kids, but it wasn't going to be ready for a few weeks; he'd arranged for a small playhouse and a wooden jungle gym-esque climbing frame to be built so that his kids had something even more exciting than a flat space and some pretty flower bushes to play amongst. He'd been informed that a woodworker was coming to the palace shortly to plan out the area and take measurements so that they could begin working as soon as possible; he'd have to formulate an excuse to keep his children away from the gardens for a while as their rewards were being constructed.

In the meantime, they were happy rushing around like little gremlins, chasing each other and playing pretend. It was amazing to deliberate on the imagination of a child, Loki had no recollection of playing 'pretend' when he was their age, but maybe he just didn't have the correct inspiration. Apparently, Kari liked to imagine he was Spider-Man with his penchant for attempting to climb everything in sight while Aster enjoyed mimicking her favourite animals, be it flapping her arms like she was a bird or hopping around like a bunny rabbit.

Loki and Amelia hadn't just taken their children to the gardens for them to play, however, they simply wanted them to be in a comfortable and familiar place so that they could teach the kids about 'Stranger Danger.'

After what happened the previous week, it was apparent they needed to be taught what to do in the unlikely event that something similar were to happen again, just in case. Of course, Loki intended to do everything in his power to ensure it wouldn't happen. Ever again.

"Kari, Aster, can you come over here for a few minutes, please?" Amelia called the little ones over as she and Loki sat on the bench, trying to appear as though the subject matter they wanted to discuss with their children wasn't frightening. They didn't want to scare the kids, but it was beyond important that they understand.

"Roarrrr!" Kari growled playfully as he chased his sister, who was squealing and giggling, all the way over to where their parents sat, but upon seeing the serious expressions on their faces, the two of them grew a little timid and quiet. The children were always very receptive to their mum and dad's emotions, it was one of the things that showed Loki just how intelligent they were for such a young age.

"C'mere," Amelia held out her arms, putting on a brilliant smile, and gave the children reassuring hugs once they approached, "Your daddy and I need to talk to you about something important, so I want you both to open up your ears and be sure to listen, okay?"

Kari and Aster looked between their mother and father and nodded tentatively.

"We want to talk to you about what you should do if we're outside the palace or in public in Manhattan and you become separated and can't find us. Specifically what you should do if somebody you don't know tries to get you to go with them," Loki clarified bluntly.

Aster comprehended very quickly that the topic of concern was regarding what had happened to her, and she began fidgeting with her hands, wringing them together and avoiding eye contact. She looked almost ashamed of what had happened.

"Hey," Loki murmured, opening his arms and pulling her in for a hug, "what happened wasn't your fault, okay?" The girl had slowly gotten past what occurred last week, but any mention or allusion to it seemed to trigger an unease in her.

Amelia pursed her lips as she tried to think of a way to word the very important lesson they were about to teach the children; she and Loki had discussed the previous night how the best way to approach the subject was and they disagreed on how to educate them. Amelia was intent on keeping the lesson light without using any frightening terminology as she didn't want to scare the kids, while Loki didn't see the point in sugar-coating anything and felt the best way was to just be blunt and serious about it.

It pained Amelia that they had to warn them of these things at such a young age, but it was unfortunately necessary for the future of their own safety. They needed to know the dangers of unknown people.

"In the unlikely event that we get separated in the future, there are some people out there who… who might get confused, and… may think that you're their children instead of ours, so they might try and take you when we're not looking," Amelia began with an abundance of tact, pausing to find words that could serve as a warning rather than instill fear into the little ones.

Aster and Kari looked puzzled, like they weren't entirely following, and Amelia worried her lower lip between her teeth as she realised what she was saying probably seemed vague and baffling to the kids rather than coherent.

"Why... they would think that we are theirs?" Kari murmured, his words carrying an undertone of concern, "I don't want a mama that's not you."

Amelia gave a sad smile at the boy's soft admission and brushed the back of her fingers against her son's cheek, "Don't worry bug, that's not gonna happen. I'm the only mama you're gonna have, I promise," she assured him and then tried to answer his question, "and, well, the people that get confused might be… ill, like they don't think the same way we do, or they might want to take you, because you're…"

Loki spoke up as his wife trailed off, a little irritated at her lack of diction and choice to speak in such a non-specific way, "You're the prince and princess of Asgard, which makes you very important people. There are good and bad people out there, and most of the time the people you meet are good and will happily help you, but some of them are bad and intend to do harm, and unfortunately you cannot tell them apart easily, because they will try and make you think they're good people, to deceive you. They might want to kidnap you because they want something in return, and would only give you back once they have it." He frowned, "But there are some who might not even give you back, because they are wretched and villainous… and they might just want to hurt you."

He felt that being precise, firm and sharp was the way to go, but the children's eyes were wide and afraid, and Amelia was glaring at him in his peripheral vision.

"But the chances of something like that happening are extremely small!" Amelia quickly interjected, which sort of contradicted the fact that it had almost just happened last week, "I mean, the chances of it ever happening again are… practically impossible. We're going to do everything to make sure that doesn't ever happen. But it means that you have to be careful when we're in the marketplace or anywhere outside of Avengers Tower back in Manhattan. That means, no wandering off or running away from us," Amelia noticed that Aster flinched slightly under that rule, knowing that she had done exactly that, "you always have to stay close by, you have to hold our hands when we tell you to, okay?"

They nodded their heads in understanding.

"And if we do get separated," Loki spoke tightly, despising the hypothetical notion with his entire being, "and somebody you don't know, someone you've never met before tries to tell you to go with them, even if they say they know us or that they're friends with us, then you scream as loud as you can. You understand?"

The kids nodded yet again.

"What do you do, if they try to take you?" Loki asked, checking that they had been paying attention.

"Scream loud!" Kari repeated enthusiastically.

"Yes," Loki smirked slightly and then turned to Aster, waiting for her to answer the same.

He expected her to sign the answer, so he was hit with another wave of surprise when she timidly whispered, "Scream loud…" in her tiny little voice.

Amelia gasped audibly. It was the first time she'd heard her daughter speak, and Loki could see out of the corner of his eye that she was working hard to contain her surprise and delight, trying not to make a big deal out of it in case it caused Aster to shy away.

Loki smiled, running a hand through her straight black hair, "Yes. Very good." Aster's lips formed a ghost of a smile at the praise. "And the two of you… be sure to always look out for each other." He wanted his children to have a stronger sibling relationship than he and Thor did when they were younger.

"Good," Amelia repeated, a slight waver in her voice as she continued to get over her shock at Aster's precious voice, "That's all we wanted to talk to you about. You two can go back to playing now, if you want to."

Aster and Kari looked hesitantly at each other and then silently decided that they did want to resume playing; Aster took off first and Kari chased her around the garden once more.

Amelia let out a breath of relief, glad that they weren't traumatised at how bluntly Loki had explained the dangers of unknown people out there in the world, and then she promptly covered her face with her hands and badly suppressed a squeal.

"Oh my god. She's so cute. She talks just like you! How precious, oh god she's so adorable. She's so cute!" Amelia gushed quietly over her daughter, and Loki chuckled slightly as Amelia latched onto his arm and shook him, unable to contain herself.

"I know," Loki agreed fondly. He took a moment to observe the children and the smile on his face slowly dropped as he watched them play, their innocent grinning faces bright and happy and naive, and feared the thought of anything bad happening to either of them.

"What's wrong, love?" Amelia noticed the melancholic expression on his face.

Loki sighed and shook his head, pausing before answering his wife, "I want to hold them and never let go. I don't want to ever take my gaze off of them for a moment. I fear what I would do if anything bad ever happened to them…"

Amelia rubbed her hand up and down his arm comfortingly, "Loki… nothing bad will happen to them." It was oddly amusing, usually Amelia was the one who was anxious and Loki was the one assuring her, not the other way around.

But after what happened last week, Loki wasn't convinced that something diabolical wasn't underway at that very moment; he continued to think back to the figure he chased, wishing he'd ran just a little faster and caught them. For now, he was forced to think of all the ways his momentary lack of speed might come back to bite him in the arse one day.

In his deep thoughts, he didn't even notice someone approaching from behind them until a hand clamped onto his shoulder with far too much familiarity than he was used to.

Amelia watched as her husband practically jumped a mile when a hand reached out of nowhere and landed on his shoulder; she was startled by his alarm and blinked wide eyes at Loki as he summoned a blade within a fraction of a second of the contact and swung round, lifting the weapon threateningly, poised to bring it down.

Then he froze, the blade disappearing as he eyed who had greeted him so boldly. There was brief silence and Amelia too took in the sight of the man standing behind the bench, still with his hand on Loki's shoulder; he was just as tall, if not taller, than Loki himself, but this man had long ginger hair down past his shoulders, a few stray braids hanging down behind his ears, a beard that was a couple inches long, a handsome face and shining hazel-coloured eyes - he looked like a typical rough, rugged Asgardian man. The strange man was smirking, and Amelia was beyond confused at what she was witnessing.

The man let out a low whistle and then spoke with a deep, rich voice, "Nice to know you're still as feisty as you've always been, Loki."

Loki appeared offended by the comment and slapped the man's hand away, "Get off of me Brynjar," he hissed, "why are you here?"

The man, Brynjar, let out a deep laugh, "I was summoned here, darling."

Amelia's eyebrows shot up at the casual use of the pet name this man gave her husband, and looked between him and Loki with her jaw agape, her expression entirely baffled.

"Touch me like that again and I'll have you thrown in a dungeon cell," Loki threatened.

Brynjar put on a very fake pout, "It was never a problem before," the smirk came back and he added in a wink, and the unanticipated flirty tone almost knocked Amelia over. She eyed Loki, waiting for him to elaborate on just who this man was and why he was talking to him in this way, but Loki seemed to be purposely avoiding eye contact with her.

Loki made a noise of exasperation in the back of his throat, "Explain yourself. Why are you here?" His vocal cords sounded taut and he radiated an aura of discomfort. Amelia had never seen her husband acting quite like this.

"I suppose you don't know, do you? Ever since we landed here on Earth, I've been working as a woodworker! I was contracted to build for a project here in the palace gardens… by you I believe?" He looked like the cat that ate the canary, distinctly smug as he revealed why he was here.

Oh. Amelia realised suddenly that this man was the contractor Loki had mentioned offhandedly, the one who was here to take the measurements for the jungle gym and playhouse Loki wanted him to build.

"I didn't know it would be you," Loki murmured with disdain, looking rather resigned to the fact.

"Surprise, darling." Brynjar once again used that word, a little twinkle in his eye.

"Stop," Loki groaned.

"Stop what?"

"You know what."

"Stop what?" Brynjar repeated, chuckling slightly and shrugging his shoulder like he really didn't see what the big deal was.

"You can't call me darling, moron. We're not involved anymore."

Involved? Like… in a relationship? Amelia was once again almost knocked over by the revelation that she was currently standing in the presence of one of Loki's exes. It seemed abundantly clear all of a sudden with how the men interacted with each other, how Brynjar spoke to Loki in a way that definitely did not mirror how a prince and his subject would usually interact. Amelia's cheeks flushed suddenly and she grew flustered at the thought of her husband and this man… together.

"Loki, who is this man?" Amelia squeaked, though she was sure she already knew.

Loki finally looked at her and responded calmly and quickly, "Just an old acquaintance, love."

Amelia had known Loki long enough to know that he got a certain way whenever he lied, and the fact that he went from exasperated and irritable to utterly and entirely composed the moment she voiced her question just said it all.

Luckily, Brynjar was quick to correct the prince.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, you must be princess Amelia," he bowed his head respectfully, "I am Brynjar. Loki and I used to be lovers." He was so… uncompromisingly forthright.

Amelia noticed Loki rolling his eyes in her peripheral and sent him a look, a little bit annoyed that he tried to lie about who Brynjar really was, though she supposed she understood why he wanted to hide it. It was a little bit of an awkward meeting.

She cleared her throat, "Um, yes… nice to meet you." Her cheeks grew pink as she immediately began to picture Loki and this man in bed together, and then she inwardly scolded herself for that being the absolute first thought that passed through her perverted mind, and then she was simply hit with a wall of jealousy.

Brynjar was a very handsome man. What had his and Loki's relationship been like? He'd said they were lovers, which suggested more than a one night stand or a simple fling. Had Loki been in love with this man? How good was he in bed? Was he more satisfying to Loki than she was?

She didn't notice she was glaring at the man until he gave her an awkward smile and cleared his throat too, "Yes, um… well, you're quite a stunning woman. I'm not surprised that little Loki here married someone as pretty as you."

Firstly, Amelia's jealousy stalled at the compliment, the man sounded genuine and not like he was lying his way into her good books or anything like that, and she immediately flushed an even deeper shape of pink. Secondly, a ripple of amusement flowed through her at the fact he had called her husband 'little'. Brynjar must have been one of the only people who could get away with calling a 6'2 man little, given the fact that he looked to be just a little bit taller.

Glancing to her left, Amelia noticed that Loki looked one-hundred percent done with Brynjar's playful jab, and yet he wasn't gearing up to send the man away for insulting his pride, he seemed to just sort of accept it, which felt quite out of character for her husband.

"Just do the measurements, Bryn," Loki grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Brynjar laughed, "Always so bossy, that's what I like about you, darling." Loki opened his mouth to protest the usage of the pet name again but Brynjar was already turning to walk around the bench and over to the green that Loki had marked as the building area for his children's rewards.

Amelia and Loki watched Brynjar begin to measure out the space for a few moments and then Amelia turned on her husband with narrowed eyes, "Care to explain what all that was about?" She put him on the spot, letting him know of her vexation through her indelicate tone.

Loki breathed out a sigh of irritation, "I didn't know he was the contracted woodworker. I would've requested somebody else." His words really didn't explain a lot, and Amelia continued to push.

"He's rather brazen," Amelia remarked, hoping it would prompt a little more out of her husband, but Loki merely nodded his head in agreement. Unbelievable. It looked like she was just going to have to come out and ask.

"Old acquaintance," Amelia mocked him, "and exactly how long were you and your acquaintance together for?" She knew that Loki had had a lot of lovers, that much he had told her before, and she had no problem with that fact whatsoever. It was the way he had tried to deceive her and make her think Brynjar was somebody else that infuriated her.

Loki rolled his eyes, "Not long."

"How long is 'not long'?" Amelia inquired impatiently.

Loki paused, "...A few years."

"A few years?" Amelia's mouth fell open. She had expected him to say a few months given what had had told her in the past about never having a relationship that lasted too long, but a few years was more of a big deal to Amelia. "That's not a short amount of time, Loki! I've told you about guys I dated before, why have you never told me about this man? Since he was clearly more than a fling?" She would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit jealous; she knew it was irrational because she and Loki were married with two beautiful children, but she couldn't help but feel a little off with Brynjar's display of behaviour and flirtatious attitude.

"You're forgetting I'm over a thousand years old, Amelia. A few years really isn't a lot of time for me," Loki groaned, "can we just talk about this later?"

Loki's deflection rubbed Amelia the wrong way.

"No, I wanna talk about it now," she demanded.

Running a hand through his hair, Loki sighed and mumbled annoyedly under his breath before giving in, "Look, I didn't love him. I was young and infatuated, but I swear I've never been in love with anybody but you, trust me. We were together for maybe three or four years but I broke it off because he's just… rather impudent and shameless. He was too clingy and I got tired of it."

Amelia gazed at her husband for a second and then bit her lip hard to avoid pouting; she pointed a finger to her chest and murmured, "But… I'm clingy too. Are you gonna get tired of me?"

Loki looked at her like she'd grown a second head, "Don't be absurd." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close against his side, "Being with him was exhausting, he chose every opportunity to embarrass me just for the fun of it. Being with you is energising and… freeing. I'll never get tired of you."

Amelia blushed at the compliment and gave him a subtle smile before hugging him tightly, "Sorry I got worked up."

"It's alright. I was… startled by his presence. He's a good person but he's an idiot and far too coquettish for his own good. Next time he pushes our boundaries, I'll deal with him accordingly," Loki assured her, and Amelia was satisfied.

"NOOOO!"

Amelia and Loki spun around at the sound of Kari's loud cry. Brynjar had stepped a little too close to their playing area and Kari had grabbed the closest stick and launched himself to stand between his sister and the strange man he had never met.

Brynjar took a startled step back as the child held the stick up threateningly, like he was going to throw it at him, and he glanced briefly back at Loki and Amelia like he was unsure what to do. He looked to Kari again, "Uh, it's okay little boy. I just need to get over there to take some measurements," he pointed past where Kari and his sister were situated and then made a move to step around them.

Kari jumped forward and whacked Brynjar's shin with the stick he wielded.

Brynjar jumped back, uninjured but surprised with his hands out defensively in front of him, he looked back to Loki and Amelia once again with an awkward look on his face, "Uh, Loki, darling, can you tell your boy not to attack me?"

Loki smirked, a flicker of smugness in his eyes, "My boy is simply defending his territory from outsiders." There was a swell of pride in his chest at Kari's display of bravery, how he had jumped up to immediately put himself between the stranger and his sister; he'd listened to what Loki and Amelia told him and did exactly as they had said.

Brynjar just looked a bit confused by the situation and once again attempted to step around Kari, but Kari once again whacked his leg with the stick and shouted, "Go back!"

Loki smiled, but offered a helping hand to the woodworker, "It's okay, children. He won't do you any harm, let him pass."

Kari lowered the stick, but continued to eye Brynjar with a serious stare that was all too funny to see on his young face; he turned and took his sister's hand and led her back to where their mum and dad were sitting, finally allowing Brynjar to get to where he needed to be.

"He's a plucky little thing, isn't he?" Brynjar remarked good-naturedly, "Just like his daddy."

"Actually, I think he gets his no-nonsense determination from his mother," Loki responded, giving his wife a wink and a smile. Amelia grinned as Kari and Aster returned to them and she gathered Kari up in her arms as Aster climbed into Loki's lap.

"That was very brave of you, well done bug," Amelia kissed his cheek and the boy beamed at the praise.

Brynjar took the opportunity to finish up his measurements, jotting them down on a piece of parchment paper and scratched a hand through his wiry beard; the children stared at him warily as he walked back past the bench, "I've got all the information I need here. I'll draw up some blueprints and then send them your way and once they're approved, I'll get to the construction."

"Good," Loki said simply and dismissively, "Off you go then." Anybody else would probably find his perfunctory words to be contemptuous or scathing, but Brynjar didn't seem to get the memo, because he smiled brightly, eyes shining with mirth.

"I look forward to hearing your feedback on my design, I already have some great ideas!" Brynjar wagged his eyebrows at Loki and then winked at Amelia and moved past them, thankfully on his way out of the gardens.

Amelia and Loki both breathed a sigh of relief.

"What an interesting character you dated," Amelia remarked quietly in amusement.

Loki opened his mouth to respond to his wife's sly comment, but swallowed his reply when Brynjar suddenly reappeared again, his hands on both Loki's and Amelia's shoulder as he popped his head between them from behind.

"Oh! One last thing, if you two are ever up for a threesome, you know where to find me!" Amelia gasped and clamped her hands down over Kari's innocent ears, the boy's face tilted in blissful unawareness. "Farewell, darlings!" Brynjar exclaimed, and then left quickly like he knew he had said something that was a bit too cheeky.

Loki stammered for a moment, wanting to reprimand the man for his brash comment, but not wanting to escalate the situation while his children were sitting right there with puzzling and unsure expressions; Brynjar was already leaving the garden and if Loki were to yell or chase him down, it would probably prompt questions from the kids. It was easier to let it go for the moment and chew him out the next time they crossed paths.

"Well," Amelia said, almost speechless, "I don't know what to say."

"Next time I see him, I will clobber him, rest assured," Loki promised.

Firstly, Brynjar is totally a Himbo. Dashingly handsome but he's a few chicken nuggets short of a happy meal if you know what I mean. I hope you guys enjoy him as a silly character and one of Loki's exes! GASP! I'd been thinking about including an interaction like this for a while and finally managed to fit it in. We do love a little bit of jealous Amelia xD

Secondly, I have this idea for this story that is a little ambitious and I think you'd all enjoy it but I'm totally nervous about it, I'll give you a one word clue... 'Jotunheim' ;)

I love hearing your theories guys, please do share them in the comments!

Also, everyone watched the WandaVision finale right? And omg, the line from Vision a few episodes ago... "What is grief, if not love persevering?" KILLED ME. MY ROMANTIC HEART CRIED OVER THAT LINE. Most beautiful line in the show ;_;

Excited to see your comments guys! Please share your thoughts! ^_^