We never went on that mission in the end, that day. I didn't see him the next day either. I know the Templars had given him some money, and a phone and set him up with a fake ID and a bank account, all under the name Lucas Lefay.

I had my phone in my hands a hundred times, but I didn't know what to say. So much had happened, and I barely could make sense of it all. So we didn't talk to each other at all.

Today, however, there was work to do. I texted Loki to let him know we were going on a job, then went to pick up the bracelet a Temple Hall. Walking in there felt different now. I had been so proud to be a Templar, so proud to be part of their organisation. So proud to be one of the good guys. But now it didn't feel the same way anymore, not after the way they had treated Loki. The phrase "Templar property" just kept ringing through my head.

All this time I'd been naively having happy little adventures with a tall, dark and handsome god by my side, and Loki had been going through hell.

But things were going to be different from now on, I told myself.

The moment Richard handed me the bracelet I realised that that wasn't actually true. Loki was still a prisoner, only with a larger territory to roam.

"Come in, come in!" Loki waved me in enthusiastically after I knocked on his apartment door. He was wearing black slacks and a blue-grey slim fitting shirt. The top button was undone.

"Sorry about the smell, I've tried using an air freshener but now it just smells like sandalwood and whatever that smell is."

I walked in. The apartment smelled of sandalwood, cabbages and what I could only presume was stale urine wafting up from the alleyway below.

"The place is looking a lot better!" I exclaimed.

It was true. Loki had been busy the day before. There was a dark green tartan throw on the sofa hiding the stains, an abstract art print in green, gold and black hung on the wall and the tv unit now has a tall narrow vase with a single white orchid in it.

"Couldn't quite afford a tv I'm afraid," he admitted.

I suddenly spotted the guitar that was standing on a stand beneath the window.

"Is that yours? Do you play?" I asked.

"Yes, yes I do actually!" Loki smiled boyishly. "Practically comes as a requirement as a cult leader. Want me to play something? Give me a minute, it's been a while!"

Before I could answer he was already sitting down on the sofa, guitar in hand. He seemed far happier than the last time I saw him. "Eh, hehe… let me think…"

His finger began strumming the guitar, a bit hesitant at first, but then I started recognising the tune. Loki was playing "Here comes the sun" by the Beatles! His eyes sparkled at me as he began to sing along. His voice was warm, deep and pleasant.

"Hehe…" he smiled almost shyly, "as I said, it's been a while. It just came to mind as you walked into the room, that's all."

I didn't know what to say. Did he…. did he just serenade me? That only happens in movies right? I mean, I had never been serenaded before, but surely I was reading the situation wrong.

"I got you something!" my voice sounded loud and unnatural as I held out the bag I had hidden behind my back.

"For me?" Loki sounded surprised. He put the guitar away and took the bag out of my hand eying it suspiciously.

"Really?" he frowned.

I thought saw the problem. The bag had Captain America's Shield on it on one side, and the Avengers logo on the other.

"It was the only bag they had," I grinned. "Just look inside it, will you?"

Loki reached inside as if he was expecting to be bitten by a snake. His eyes twinkled cheerfully though, and I realised he was being dramatic on purpose.

"Oh, that is…. unexpected," he said as he held up a pair of dark green socks with little yellow stylised horned helmets on them.

"I thought I'd get you something practical since you are still settling in,"

I said nervously. This was stupid, right? Giving him Loki-themed socks? Honestly, what was I thinking?

"And a t-shirt too!" Loki exclaimed, the corner of his mouth twitching. The t-shirt was black and had the same yellow horned helmet on it, his name written under it in green.

I shuffled my feet in embarrassment. "I just thought 'You can never have enough t-shirts', right?" I asked lamely.

"No, of course not," he tried to keep his face blank but I could see he was laughing.

"And there is more!" Loki held up a black mug with his name on it in green sparkly writing. If I could have sunk through the floor I would have.

"It's a housewarming gift," I muttered.

"It shall be my most prized possession," he declared grandly. "No, it truly is. Look, all the other mugs are either chipped or have lost their handle."

It was true. On a shelf above the sink stood three other mugs, all damaged in one way or another.

Loki seemed to take pity on me after seeing my face.

"It was nice of you Sorcha, truly, it was very kind. Forgive my rudeness, I'm not used to getting gifts."

He winked and smiled and looked at me with those beautiful eyes of his and I felt my knees turn weak.

"Well, better not tarry, monsters to kill, hapless people to save! Let me get my coat!"

"There are no words to describe how truly I detest my life right now! I am practically speechless! My vocabulary, which is not insignificant, mind you, is failing me right now! As eloquent as I usually am…"

"For someone claiming to be speechless you sure talk a lot," I interrupted Loki. "and didn't you say that you had a suspicion that for the foreseeable future we'd be given the shittiest jobs?"

Loki waved a finger at me. "I did not mean that quite so literally!" he shouted. The echo reverbed off the walls of the sewers we were in.

"You should have worn…"

"Not a word, Sorcha! Not a word! There is no universe, no timeline, in which I would wear those ludicrous things!"

He glared at the rubber boots on my feet. They were bright yellow. With orange ducks on them. I had brought a pair for him too, but he had refused to put them on.

"Do you know how hard it was to find cute wellies in your size?" I yelled back.

"I never asked you to find me 'cute wellies'!" Loki spat back.

"Couldn't you just glamour them and made them look like something else?"

"Couldn't you just glamour them and made them look like something else?" Loki mimicked.

"Wait, actually, I could have. Why didn't I think of that?" he glared at me as if it was my fault.

"It is because you, infuriating as you are, are driving me to distraction!"

"Can't you be quieter!" I yelled back," You are scaring the werecrocodile away with your yelling!"

"For the last time, it's an alligator! Can't you tell the difference? A weregator, if there is such a thing! For crying out loud this is all ridiculous!"

We were both more than a little frustrated. We had been stuck in these sewers for hours, after reports from workmen had been passed on to the Templars about a half-reptile, half-human creature that had attacked them during routine maintenance. The creature had led us on a merry chase, and we had lost track of it.

"Shhhhh…" Loki suddenly shushed me.

"You shhhh…," I hissed back angrily. Loki pulled me close and clasped his hand over my mouth.

Not having much choice, I fell silent. How did he still manage to smell good in a sewer? I tried not to think about it at all. Or the fact that I could feel every muscle of his hard athletic body pressed against mine. In the distance, there was the sound of splashing.

"You go left, I go right," Loki whispered, letting go of me. Before I could say anything, he ran off, moving quietly through the disgusting sewer water.

I splashed in the opposite direction, far less quiet. Mine was a dead end, so I splashed back in the other direction.

Loki was fighting what seemed to be a creature with the head of a crocodile on top of the body of a man. Or an alligator, I can't really tell the difference.

Lightning didn't seem like a good idea while we were standing in water, so I rapidly threw a stream of fireballs at the weregator (I'll just let Loki have this one, okay?) blasting it forwards. Almost right on top of Loki who dropped down and gracefully slid away just in time before the weregator could knock him over. With feline ease, he leapt behind the creature and stabbed it in the back multiple times, then slid the weregator's throat.

The body dropped down, changing back into that of a man as it fell.

"Nice job!" I cheered.

Breathing heavily, Loki looked down at his shirt, now covered in blood.

"Don't suppose I could possibly use your shower and washing machine again?" he asked, tugging at his shirt and giving me his most charming smile.