Loki contentedly closed his eyes as he put another spoon of the delicious panna cotta into his mouth. Now, this was truly food worthy of a god.
The God of Mischief was sitting inside a small italian café and pondered why Asgard didn't have more sweets - there were only nuts and fruit. Vaneheim and Alfheim were a little better, adding honey and at least creating some cakes and pies from possible ingredients. But Midgard? Midgard had a vast and glorious variety of confectionery! Chocolate, cookies, ice-cream, cupcakes… oh Norns, this was something Midgard was truly superior in.
And he had the time of his life exploring all the sweet products that this planet had to offer and wasn't planning to leave anytime soon - not that he would be welcomed in Asgard.
Fortunately it was proven at his trial that he was also affected by the mind stone and not truly responsible for the invasion, and most of what he did before falling of the bifrost he did as a king regent, so he couldn't be punished for that - well, he could, because Odin's word was law but both Frigga and Thor spoke for him, so in the end Odin only made sure to let him know that he, Allfather, doesn't consider Loki to be a prince of Asgard any longer (Odin didn't announce it publicly though for his enemies not to sense any weakness in the Golden Realm).
So Loki left and decided to go to Midgard, a new favourite realm of his broth- of Thor, where he could annoy the Thunderer by causing mischief of epic proportions.
And he did. The Avengers now lived together in their tower and usually assembled either a) to fight the current villain threatening the city (New York was a very popular target for some reason) or planet - it was usually Doom, Amora, Magneto, aliens, ugly creatures from other dimensions or some other wannabe conqueror, or b) to deal with Loki's mischief. Because Loki wasn't like their other foes, oh no, he didn't want to cause destruction, death and subjugate the humans. He wanted chaos, mischief and to annoy his dimwit of a brother, ehm, Thor, and the Thunderer's new shield brothers.
Loki has been doing his research into Midgard, its customs and the Avengers so his deeds would be the most effective and in a true God of Mischief style. Stark wants to have a smoothly running StarkExpo? Oh dear, all the Stark products and gadgets in the vicinity only speak Groot (which means that all the displays are full of I am Groot and every application on the mobile phones and tablets is named 'I am Groot' with a Flora Colossus picture as icon). Black Widow wants to go to a ballet? Well, look at that, somehow the gravity doesn't work at the theatre tonight. Rogers takes Thor to a baseball game? Oh look, a Godzilla is coming and the whole stadium has to be evacuated before it is revealed it's only a glorious illusion.
Loki was both surprised and excited to find out that these actions also got some positive attention - apparently some of the humans recognized his wit and cunning and started something called a 'fanclub' for him. It was nice to have followers and worshippers again.
But still, despite his best efforts to show Thor his displeasure, his idiot not-brother did his best to try to contact him and 'befriend him' again as if Loki didn't suffer any slights in the last centuries and wasn't lied to his whole life by their so-called parents. Stupid Thor.
But onto more pleasant thoughts: this panna cotta was truly divine. Loki was truly blessed to have discovered this little café. He found it by following Stark one day. It was in the neighbourhood called Queens which was not one of the richest ones it seemed, and was owned by a woman called Elena Allegreti who insisted on being called Mamma Alegretti (Loki complied, since after calling him too thin she gave him several free biscottis).
Loki had to hand it to Stark - the man truly knew what was the best. So far Loki hasn't found a better establishment than Mamma Allegretti's café! The only thing he had to be careful though was not to run into the inventor there but so far he was successful.
Loki finished the panna cotta and his cannoli milkshake, said his goodbyes to Mamma Alegretti and content he walked out of the café. It was a nice day. Perhaps he could look around the neighbourhood? After all, who knew what other treasures he could find here.
The bookshop next door was already closed but Loki came closer to look at the window and… OH.
There was a large and gorgeous snake inside lounging on one of the tables full of books!
Well, he must meet this wonderful creature and find out if it is where it wants to be! If not, Loki will steal it.
The God of Mischief went to the door, put a hand on it, concentrated and teleported himself inside.
The marvellous creature noticed and raised its head a little bit as Loki was coming closer, admiring the large black and red scales.
"Peace, magnificent serpent," hissed Loki in the snake tongue, "I only wish to make your acquaintance and check if you are treated right at this dwelling."
"Well, this isss a sssurprissse," hissed the snake. Before he could continue though Loki heard a voice coming from upstairs.
"Did you say something, dear?" said the voice and then, to Loki's great surprise, a man with a large and beautiful pair of white wings glided from the top floor to the ground. Then he did a little shake with his shoulders and the wings disappeared. The man turned to the snake and only then he noticed Loki.
"Oh," he said and looked at the locked door and back at Loki. "You see, instead of breaking in you should ring the bell if we're closed, young man."
Loki gave him a smirk, "I am certainly not young by your standards."
The blond hummed with a smile, "If you say so," and for some reason Loki suddenly wasn't so sure this being was a human from Midgard - after all, he had wings (even though the internet said that now there seemed to be some kind of enhanced people on Midgard called the eggsmen or something like that).
As he fully turned to examine the blond man he noticed something in the corner of his eye and turning back he managed to see the end of the transformation from the snake into a tall man with red hair and snake eyes.
"A shapeshifter?" Oh this was getting better and better!
"A snake shapeshifter, yeah. Name is Crowley," said the shapeshifter with a smile and put on a pair of sunglasses, "How do you feel about coins and glue?"
"Oh no no no no, please no, don't show him your PowerPoint presentation, dear, please," said the blond with both exasperated and resigned air.
Crowley ignored it, "This is Aziraphale, my angel. He, well, we both are very interested about how this universe works and if there is a… mmm, one being that created it all?"
Loki blinked, "So, you know who I am."
"Oh yes," answered the shapeshifter simply.
"And you aren't afraid of me?" asked Loki - while there was his fanclub, there were also many different news articles about him, which while not necessarily painting him as a bad guy, still described him as a very powerful being (as they should) so usually people were very hesitant about him when finding out who he was.
"No?" the redhead raised his eyebrow as if such thought didn't occur to him at all.
"Perhaps we should take this upstairs and sit down?" said the blond named Aziraphale with a cheerful smile.
Loki was not sure about it until the Aziraphale continued, "I have cantuccini from Mamma Allegretti's recipe in the oven and I don't want them to get burned."
Well, who could say no to that?
Aziraphale again pulled out his wings and by several mighty flaps he flew up to the top floor. Crowley mumbled something about finding a key to the stairs so Loki just grinned and concentrated, teleporting himself up as well.
"Look, dear! Someone we don't have to find the key for!" beamed the blond.
"Nice," said Crowley and pulled out his pair of great black wings and flew up as well. There he and Loki followed Aziraphale to the kitchen.
The god sat down in the cozy room and with a smile looked at the oven where the cantuccini could be seen. Crowley meanwhile brought a bottle of Tuscan wine and three glasses.
Whatever these beings were, hummed Loki as he took the first sip of the wine, they had an excellent taste. "The sign at the bookshop says 'Angel&Serpent'," he noted.
"Yes," answered Crowley while Aziraphale was busy tending to the cantuccinis.
"So Aziraphale is an angel?" Loki did read something about those on the Midgard's internet but nothing he came across suggested that they would be real.
"Yes," nodded Crowley again and took a sip too.
"But while you are a serpent, you have wings as well. Are you also an angel?" Loki tilted his head.
"Well," grinned Crowley, "right species, wrong political party."
Loki blinked, "A demon then?"
"Yesss," said Crowley smiling sharply, trying probably to project a demonish air which was greatly undermined by Aziraphale passing by and kissing the top of his head.
Crowley sighed. Loki understood that sigh very well, when he was a child, on the training grounds he often tried to look what would the people of Midgard call 'cool and menacing' only to have his blond go by and tackle him with a hug.
"Nothing I read suggested that angels and demons truly existed," said Loki, impressed.
"Well, we are not from here. We're from… another dimension, I guess. One in which there are no aliens or Norse gods but there are angels and demons and God. That's why we're interested in how it works here and if there is a single, above-all entity."
Loki was greatly intrigued, "Well, this will take a while, how many bottles of wine do you have?"
Crowley grinned and gave him a true demonic smile.
It took a lot of bottles. In the end they established that in this dimension She is probably not the Norns, nor an Eternal, a Celestial or an Elder, and then postulated that perhaps what if She isn't here any longer - what if She only created this universe, stayed for a while and then left some important rocks here (called Infinity Stones) and left. Aziraphale said that he wouldn't put it past her because a lot of what She does is Ineffable but at that point Loki was too drunk to inquire what he meant by that. Then they moved onto their stories (Loki fell off the chair laughing when he heard about Adam's delivery - You lost the Antichrist?!, and then again when hearing how they bullshitted their way through at the airfield). Now Loki was talking about his life:
"...and then, and then, I'm in the air under the broken Bifrost, hanging only on the Gungnir which Thor is holding, Odin just appeared to grab Thor's leg and I said to Odin that I could have done it for him, for all of us. You know, to destroy all the Frost Giants, all the monsters, so there would be only me left and perhaps I could give it a new meaning and what did he say? What did he say when I'm hanging over the abyss after learning that I've been lied to my whole life and taught that my own race is a race of monsters? He says 'No, Loki'. So I… let go."
"Odin is a dick," said Crowley resolutely.
Loki, still emotional from retelling the story, started laughing. "I don't think I have ever heard anyone calling him that."
Aziraphale, very carefully refilling all their glasses, nodded gravely, "A dick."
Something in Loki's chest untensed and a warm feeling appeared there, "Thank you," he said softly.
When Loki woke up he was lying on a couch covered with a soft blanket and a pillow under his head. What happ- oh right. The bookshop. The demon and angel. The cantuccinis and wine. He breathed deeply as he examined his drunken memories. Except for discussing the universe and sharing their stories he met a rat called Atouille who was named such because apparently 'ratatouille' was a dish on Midgard and Crowley was a mischievous scamp. Aziraphale promised to make the dish for Loki to taste. Crowley asked for his help in unshrinking the small car he wore on a chain around his neck - apparently it was a real car from their original dimension shrunken with powers which they had there and were not working here. It was an interesting problem and Loki looked forward to solving it. He also learned that the duo know two Avengers already so he will have to be careful when to drop by - these two beings from another dimension apparently had no problem being friends with both Loki and them. And what else they, oh, was that a hug he got from them both in something called a 'cuddle pile'?
Loki felt himself smile as he remembered the memory. It was after he realized when talking with the two and said out loud that Odin was his father - but of course a shitty father. That meant that Thor was his brother (though it didn't mean that Loki was going to stop annoying him - after all, admitting they were his family didn't mean they were forgiven). But after he said his family realization out loud he got a hug which was… very nice actually.
Interesting, he mused, he knew the two not even a day and they already felt like better friends than Sif and the Warriors Three or any other noble child that was supposed to be his friend on Asgard but in reality wanted only to ingratiate themselves with the royal family.
Loki yawned as he listened to the pleasant noises from downstairs. It seemed that the bookshop was already open and running.
"Squeak."
Loki looked at Atouille who was sitting on the table near the sofa and pointing to a big plate covered with foil. Loki decided to learn the rat language - he could transform himself into a rat and converse like that, of course, but it would be more practical to learn like this. Fortunately his new small friend understood English, "Thank you."
Loki uncovered the foil and looked at the plate full of pancakes. He took the nearby note saying: Good morning, Loki! Rise and shine! Here is something yummy for you to start the day. We will be downstairs selling books. If you have other matters to attend to, please say hi before you leave, otherwise you can wait until the lunch break - we shall have spaghetti (Mamma Allegretti's recipe, of course)! A. :).
Well, should he leave and go to his empty flat, or should he stay for lunch with his friends to sample more of Mamma Allegretti's cuisine? Oh dear, oh dear, such a difficult choice.
The God of Mischief propped himself up on the sofa, put the plate on his lap and started on the first pancake with satisfaction. This was the life.
Somehow Loki found himself spending the whole day at the bookshop - at lunch he learned that Aziraphale was going to make a homemade pizza for dinner, so Loki was in no hurry to leave and instead made himself familiar with the flat and the bookshop - he even helped to refill some bookshelves because Aziraphale and Crowley were busy tending to the counters.
After dinner they tackled the problem of the tiny Bentley. Loki ran every magical diagnostics he could think of. The yielded results uncovered several energies but none were familiar to him. Was it only because of the other dimension or…
"Are there sorcerers on Midgard? Perhaps if the car was binded by the Midgard energy channels they could help us to untangle them," said Loki.
Aziraphale and Crowley exchanged a look. Then Crowley said, "Well, there are witches."
Aziraphale hummed, "Yes, we were friends with one of them at our dimension and we are also friends with one here - Gytha Fogg, she has a small occult shop nearby and we have our knitting sessions in the back room. While a large part of the shop is for those not in the know, there is a secret room with magical texts and objects, herbs, grimoires and so on."
The angel continued, "It should still be open, perhaps you two could hop over there and ask?"
"Uh, angel? We two? You know her best," said Crowley dumbfounded.
"True, but I promised Nina that I would stop by tonight - you know, she is opening her new knitting shop and is all worried about it, poor dear. I told her I will bring her my calming tea bland and keep her company for a while. Don't worry, dear, you'll do great, she won't eat you."
"Eat, no, but she will want to feed me," grumbled the demon.
"Well, you have someone to help you with that," beamed Aziraphale at him and puzzled Loki.
Indeed, the very first thing Gytha Fogg did when Loki and Crowley entered her shop was to sit them down, lament about how thin they were and put a plate of sandwiches in front of them expectantly.
Loki chuckled, "I wonder, is this standard witch behaviour, standard grandmother behaviour or standard witch grandmother behaviour."
Their host blinked at him.
"You see, my mother was raised by witches on Vanaheim, so I have eight witch grandmothers. And every time we visit with Thor - and Thor is not small by any means - the first thing they do is to put food in front of us and complain about how thin we are," explained Loki fondly.
"Well, I think it's mainly a grandmother's behaviour," said Gytha and then narrowed her eyes, "and tell me, young man, when was the last time you visited your grandmothers?"
"Uh," gulped Loki like a deer in the headlights. It has been a couple of years, with his Asgard duties and all the other recent mess.
"Hmpf, I thought so," said the witch and pushed the plate closer to him in a passive aggressive way.
Loki obediently started to eat a sandwich.
Crowley resignedly took one as well, and between small and very slow bites started explaining the problem.
Gytha waited until they finished the plate (mainly thanks to Loki) and then took them to the secret room where they sat again but now in completely another atmosphere, Loki watching curiously everything magical around him.
"So," said Gytha, "except for the witches there are actually sorcerers on Earth, but I'm not sure how much they would help. They have this pretentious little cult where they act like they are super important to the universe. In reality they feed on magic from dubious dimensions ('Fools', muttered Loki) by which they invite trouble and then when they have to more or less deal with the trouble they feel like they are holy saviours or something. We witches keep an eye on them so they don't fuck up too badly."
Gytha took a mighty gulp from her tankard of beer, "They also cautiously protect all their supposed knowledge so I don't think they would just share. But hopefully we won't need these second-rate magic users. I can contact some witch friends of mine and start research into it in my own private family grimoires and books. For a price, of course."
Loki nodded, witches always asked a price, "What is the price?"
Gytha looked at them contemplatively and said, "Loki, I want you to go to Vanaheim to visit your grandmothers and spend a couple of days with them - they surely miss you - and bring me back a Vanaheim grimoire, I don't have that one in my collection." Loki blinked but nodded and Gytha continued, "And Crowley, Nina is opening her knitting shop but she's greatly worried about it - you know, if people start going there, if they even learn about it. I was going to prepare a luck ritual, but perhaps it would be easier if things happened naturally - I believe you have a friend that has a massive following on that internet thing that could help?"
Loki watched his friend grin and pull out his mobile phone, if he was right then the demon was composing a text message to Stark.
Now, he was glad he had his gold with him because the book section looked very interesting.
"Hey, Brucie Bear, Crowley just asked me to endorse this small knitting shop on social media, do you know it? Perhaps it would help if two Avengers took a selfie there rather than just one?"
"Oh yeah, that's Nina's new shop, and that would be pretty great, thank you, Tony, she was a little nervous lately how it would go. But I'm not sure if me there would help-"
"Nonsense, I'm calling the car."
"Tony, Bruce, what are you doing here?" said Aziraphale when he saw the inventor and the scientist enter the shop where he and Nina were having tea.
Bruce waved and Tony smiled behind his dark glasses, "We heard that this little cute shop is in need of a good PR?"
"Oh," said Nina, "that would be wonderful, thank you. Would you like some scones?"
They did. The scones were delicious.
A week later Azirphale and Crowley were sitting in their kitchen. The angel was just saying, "... so she is over the moon with how many people visit her shop. Even a lot of young people, complete beginners stop by, because suddenly knitting is 'cool' when Iron Man and Hulk like it, and-"
Suddenly Loki teleported into the kitchen carrying several boxes, "I'm back!"
"Oh, welcome back dear, we were starting to get worried, also, please use the doorbell," said Aziraphale smiling at their friend.
Loki waved his hand as if doorbells were unimportant, "Grandmothers were very good in persuading me to stay 'just one day more', those cunning ladies," he said with a soft and proud smile, "it was great to see them again. Apparently they like Odin less than I thought so we spent quite some time…"
"...bitching about him?" asked Crowley with a grin.
"Yeah," Loki answered with his own grin.
"When I was leaving they gave me a lot of food," he gestured at the boxes, "this is just a small part of it."
"Oh my," said Aziraphale curiously.
"Oh yes," said Loki. "I brought it for you to sample," and with a pleased expression watched Aziraphale's shining eyes.
"For example this," explained Loki as he opened one of the boxes, "is grandmother Yrsa's delicious wildberry pie. Both Thor and I always fought for the last piece," he recalled with a smile and then, with a more cheeky smile added, "I doubt that Thor tasted it in the last decade."
"Perhaps you should take a selfie with it, find out your brother's number, and send it to him," said Crowley.
"Crowley!" admonished Aziraphale but without no real fire behind it.
"Oh, excellent idea!" said Loki and started posing with a piece of pie.
Aziraphale exasperatedly sighed and smiled as he watched what he had dreaded happen.
Some things, he guessed, just can't be helped and are simply destined to be.
Now, what should he prepare for dinner, he mused as he watched two large snakes inside the shopping window, one red-and-black and one green-and-black, to laugh at people in front of the shop who tried without much success to pick up coins on the pavement.