Notes: I kind of like Topaz's character. xD But I cannot, for the life of me, write her, lol.
Ah, Loki and the Grandmaster need to have a little chat, methinks.
"Kitten?... Kitten, are you with me?"
"Ngh...!" His head was killing him. His connection with Thor had been ripped appart right when he was weakening it enough to let go. Luckily for them it had been almost done, but still. After the initian startle, he had felt the Grandmaster's imposing presence between him and where he felt Thor's form. He had tried to warn his brother, as he was sure not even him could fight against a creature like the Grandmaster and win, even if he still had Mjölnir.
"Kitten?... Loki... What have you done to yourself?"
Loki tried to clear his head, but the headache was too strong now, his seidr trying to repair the broken link somehow while battling against the need to hollow everything out. He couldn't focus his eyes, but he knew that someone was there with him. A warm piece of cloth was used on his face, maybe to clean up the bloody mess –he had been aware of his nosebleed but at the moment he was unable to sense anything, everything was blurred and tuned out–, maybe to stop the bleeding. A hand on the back of his head moved him to rest his forehead on someone's shoulder. He sighed.
"Thor..." he said, tone warm, infinite love poured on that lone word. He had missed his brother. And it seemed his brother had as well, being how he still was taking care of him.
When he woke up the day was almost done, diurnal light giving way to the neon empire that shone brightest by nightfall 'till sunrise. The room in which he was had all lights off, though, and only the ones that came from outside the windows lit it, filling it with shapey shadows that promissed a lot of things: death, adventures, love... Any shape could be threat or a treat, but Loki wasn't focusing on that, just on the feeling of wrongness. He felt as if something was missing. Maybe the broken link.
"Norns! I am going to have to relink again with that idiot," he sighed. Retying a broken link to unknot it correctly was even more dangerous and exhausting than what they had done before... Today? Yesterda? How long had he been out? He couldn't know. Exhaling, he got up. He was still wearing the same tattered clothes, but his boots and socks were missing.
His bare feet made almost no sound on the fluffy carpet. He looked around to see if anything seemed familiar. Where was he? In Sakaar, that was clear, but where on Hel in Sakaar? Loki located the door and walked there. Upon opening it he found the Grandmaster's favourite aide on the other side.
"Lady Topaz," he greeted, smiling.
"Roach! You are still alive?" she retorted, looking bemused. "I honestly cannot understand how you are still alive. Do you know that you are messing up with my wagers?"
"Oh, my lady, are you betting on when I am going to get melted?" Loki said, chuckling a bit. She smiled at him with the expression an adult would show a child who doesn't know better.
"No. The Melt Stick is only used when the other is deserving. Now? You don't deserve such a mercy. Maybe being mauled by Mangles. But yes, you being still alive is very inconvinient!"
"How very rude of me," he said, taking a hand to his bare chest, showing a mock shocked face. "I will endeavour to help you win your bet," he lied, while bowing, "but not now. I am in need to find someone, so if you will..." he motioned, intending for Topaz to move away from his path. She just barked a laugh.
"I will not, roach. I've been told to not let anyone in or out from this door, so get back inside and wait."
Loki smiled and Topaz smiled back. It was more a contest of showing off canines and being menazing. He felt his seidr, fingertips prickling, wanting to grab one of his daggers and bury it deep into the woman's chest. How infuriating she was at times.
"How long do I have to stay-?"
"Don't know. Don't care. Now... shoo!" She made a hand gesture that was a perfect imitation of the Grandmaster's. That irated him, but he controlled himself, breathing in through his nose to regain some semblance of calm before stepping back and closing the door. Topaz was grinning in triumph.
"I have to find Brun," he whispered, resting his forehead on the door, hitting it softly with a fist. Then, he looked at his hand. "Through the door, eh?"
Loki walked back, peeled off the rags that had been a perfectly fine piece of clothing –thank you very much, Thor, you owe your brother three hundred credits– and looked at both sides of the door, measuring in his head. Then, after he had decided, walked to one of the walls, put his palm on it and released his seidr, testing the material. Once he knew everything he needed he took of his hand and searched the wall with his eyes. Nodding to himself he readied his body. Taking a bit of impulse he fisted his hand and punched the wall once, twice, thrice. By fourth time the whole thing almost crumbled down. There, a perfectly fine hole for him to go through.
He walked outside the room into the corridor, smile on his lips as he looked at Topaz. She was frowning at him.
"You cannot go outside."
"Not through the door, no," he retorted, blew her a kiss and a wink and left. He could hear her huffing and taking out her radio.
"I swear to Klerg! Get rid of this cockroach already! It just broke one perfectly fine wall. Who do you think will have to clean it up later?"
Not her, that was for sure, Loki thought.
"Now... Let's finde a valkyrie."
00000
It had irritated him, but in the end he had been the magnanimous tyrant that he was and taken Loki to another, nicer, room and left him resting. He was too busy today to get caught up in Loki and his bulky brother's drama. So he pushed everything aside and went to court and then gave a concert. Giving a concert always cheered him up. He was blasting! It was so much fun seeing all of his beloved subjects enjoying his tunes.
All around him people were drinking, chatting, engaging in love affairs or just in rutine touching without much more to it. But they all were doing it with purpose. A different touch of makeup here, a stronger cologne there, sulty moves, careless caresses... All for the sole purpose of gaining his attention, even if for a brief glance. Their displays of affection to one another were in reallity aimed at him, for him to enjoy, to watch, to select his next favourite. Ah! To see them fighting overtly subtle wars against each other to win his affections... But none of them were the correct shape today. Their hairs were dull, even the one from that one man that was basically just floating curls of gold ornaments, and that was shining! But not enough. It wasn't enough to catch his attention longer than usual. Then, their skin lacked... Some spice, if you will. Oh, and there was the missing gleam of mischief in their ey-
Okay, stop, rewind, rewind! En Dwi was doing it all over again. He had started comparing this party's attendees to someone who wasn't even here! Ah, his mood was soured. He made the universal gesture of "you over there, take over the keyboard!" and left. This party was boring, all of a sudden. His usual guards followed in tow, not missing a beat. He walked around, his steps seemed to be aimless but he knew where he was going and which route he wanted to take. Even though it looked for the outsider that he was just going here and there without purpose, En Dwi was just showing himself off while taking a sligh detour before going to his champion. A brief chat with him would lift his spirits in no time!
And as sure as he was of his plan, it all fell to pieces when he found his champion in the presence of Scrapper-142 and Sparkles. Not that he hated Scrapper-142, but she had been monopolying Loki a bit too much these past months. Had it been years? Maybe just days. Time was a funny business, wasn't it? And then... Sparkles. They were all drinking tea while chatting and laughing and... His own mouth shaped itself as if he had drank from the sewers, the locked memory of Loki calling in such an intimate way for Thor... Oh, that had irritated him, and that had been one of the main reasons for him to go to his party. It had also had the consequence of his own mind overthrowing Loki's little charm.
He had been able to recall the blasted name and now he was really concerned because all those instances that Loki had been searching for that special someone with such urgency and worry had resoulted in this: he had been looking for his brother. Was Loki in love with Sparkles? Why? Did Loki like bulky men? He could bulk up whenever he desired, but he found it a bit dull and preferred other styles.
"Well! If it isn't my favourite people: my Champion, my best Scrapper and Sparkles, Lord of Thunder!" he greeted, gleefuly. Thor, he saw with wicked satisfaction, tensed up upon seeing him. "What is it? You aren't sharing any secrets I cannot know, are you?" he asked, wriggling his eyebrows.
His Champion roared, happily, while Scrapper just rolled her eyes.
"That's not it, boss. We were just sharing stories about who has had the worst encounter with Lackey."
"Lackey- who?"
"You pet, the kitten," she clarified, taking a swing of her bottle. "This shit is the good stuff!"
"I know. The best ale you can find in all of Asgard," Thor said to her, half ignoring him, half looking at him, surspicion on his eyes. How very similar to Loki was his Lord Sparkles. Amusing in a disturbing way.
"Oh, and are you going to share again? I have one. The very first time we met, he tied to slice my throat," En Dwi said, sitting with them, clapping. "It was really cute of him, because he was bleeding. The poor thing thought he could fight," he giggled.
Sparkles was looking at him with an interested face, but Scrapper and Champion looked at him with mirror worried expressions.
"And he is still alive?" Scrapper asked in a slurred voice.
"Oh, yes, as you can see. It was so very amusing. It had been so long since the last time I had so much fun with someone. Then a couple of days later, or maybe hours, I cannot keep track of time, my dear. Well, after a few weeks he came to me and requested a duel to leave Sakaar. Poor thing thought he stood a chance. But he was good, very good. What a pity that it wasn't recorded. But there were six of him. Six!"
Sparkles roared, laughing happily. That disconcerted En Dwi, whose smile froze on his face.
"That sounds very much like him. He would always use illusions to confuse his opponents in the battlefield. And he could make them solid or not depending on what suited him. One time he lured one of our foes to a cliff and made them charge against him, only for them to go through it and fall down."
Ah! Sparkles was trying to feign he was relaxed. Now he understood. En Dwi just nodded.
They shared different stories, but En Dwi got bored a few hours in so he left them, now convinced that there was something going on between the three and Loki. It had been a good thing that Loki wasn't there, as he was convinced that having the four melted for treason was such a pity. They were very good entertainers.
The next day arrived and no news about Loki waking up reached his ears, so he held court as normal, planned a few parties, executed a few criminals, greeted the new lost and found. The usual. And on a whim, he decided to hold a special party in his favourite ship. He wanted to cruise around for a couple of... Hours? Days? As long as the ship could fly.
The guests were already arriving at the hangar, night falling over them when he received Topaz's call. At first he couldn't understand. Cockroaches? In his skyscrapper? How!? Then he put two and two together and decided that he could go on a cruise another day. He didn't walk this time. He didn't give any time of grace. He just appeared behind Loki and walked with him a few paces before grabbing his wrist and taking him away. Loki, of course, was startled and tried to fight him, then, upon recognising him he stopped his useless resistance.
"Where were you going, honey? As far as I know, you were told to rest."
"Ah, Grandmaster... You see, I was a bit hungry and inside the room there wa-"
"Oh, my dear, you just had to ask for a meal to be brough to you," he said crowding Loki just as any predator would a prey. Loki's stare was intense. He seemed to be looking everywhere, anywhere but to him. His bare chest was rising and falling a bit faster than usual and his cheeks were faintly tinted. Interesting. He grabbed his chin and Loki's peridot eyes set on his. Intense, indeed.
"I couldn't wait," Loki said, faintly. It was as if he was gasping for air. Was he ill? Maybe it was because he was running around without any kind of clothes on him, except his breeches. En Dwi hummed. Then he took off one of his top layers and put it over Loki's shoulders. Loki's eyes unfocused for a brief moment, then they widened and looked up at him, as if waiting to see if En Dwi saw. And oh, he saw. He very much saw.
00000
As soon as the Grandmaster's tunic enveloped his form, Loki was surrounded by the creature's smell and that was... It was something so alluring that he had a hard time focusing on the present moment for a second. He had breathed in deeply, trying to commit the scent to memory. Upon realizing what he was doing, his eyes darted to the man before him. He wasn't smiling nor frowning, just looking at him with interest, and Loki couldn't calm himself.
Thor was here, safe. Heimdall had been warned. He had ascertained a window of time difference between Sakaar and the Realm Eternal and... He was more relaxed. Relaxed enough to see how he... To really picture himself... He had been daydreaming about staying here, on Sakaar... And now the main reason for doing so was here, right in front of him. He wasn't going to delude himself into thinking this had more deepth than pure curiosity, after all, he knew the man was interested in Loki –their shared evenings playing Talf, the subtle game of tag, the very obvious attempt when he had been playing that piano... Those couldn't have been mere flukes.
Tentatively, he put a hand on the man's chest, not quite resting there, just over the fabric, and looked back at his face, waiting for a reaction. The Grandmaster hadn't move.
"You know, kitten?" The Grandmaster's voice held a different quality to it. Maybe it was because they were alone, in a room who knew where, but Loki's heart was hammering inside too loud and strong. "I always like when people pay attention to me. You see, I love to have two or three or thirteen friends sharing my bed." Loki nodded, looking down at his own hand, now resting on the man's chest, feeling the heat underneath the clothes. He swallowed. "They usually play coy, or not and come at me. They will whisper secrets untold, throw each other under the proverbial bus, just so I would look at them. They will do the wildest of things inside the Comodore just to gain and keep my attention."
"And does that work?" he dare ask. He knew his own voice sounded seductive when he spoke in quiet tones. It had been one of his usual weapons when he wanted to irritate Fandral by taking away his newest interest for conquest. He looked up again at the Grandmaster's eyes. Maybe... Maybe he should indulge. At least once before they set their plan in motion. After all, who knew how long it would have been in Sakaar if he left and after subduing his sister and saving his people he decided to come back and...
"Usually? No. Rarely? No. Normally? No. I just indulge in what I want when I want, but never let them have what they desire, no. It is not entertaining. Keeping everyone on their toes is immensely funnier, you know?"
Loki knew. He had been like that, once. Entering a room and knowing everyone were holding their breaths, hoping against hope that Loki wouldn't play one of his pranks. Of course, the Grandmaster's situation was different than his, but there were certain similarities... Loki sucked in a breath when fingertips grazed against the bare skin on his flank, fingers tracing his most recent scar.
"May I kiss you?"
Loki didn't know who had asked, but he just nodded and then, warmth enveloped his lips. It was a soft, shy brushing. Loki's heart was louder now as the Grandmaster's other hand cupped his face. The next one was a firm encounter. Loki sighed into the kiss, breath hitching when teeth bit into his lower lip, mouth sucking him in.
More notes: Oh noes! Cliffhanger! Luckily for us, next chapter is already written and done so there won't be a long "suffering" heh.