Monday morning, Loki was waiting for the penny to drop. He could tell it was bubbling under, a few people had knowledge of what happened, but he could feel the flood building.
Gamora wasn't at school that morning. Most people didn't notice one person's absence, but Loki knew it meant she'd found out. He was a little surprised to see Nebula there, to be honest, but then again she was looking at him like she was picturing him slowly burning to death. She probably was.
He'd avoid her for the time being.
"You're in a good mood," Vis noted as they headed to their first hour.
Loki just shrugged. "My coffee came out particularly good this morning."
From the look Vis gave him, Loki knew he didn't believe the lie for a second, but he'd come clean later. When they were alone, when no one could overhear.
As they walked past the office, Loki saw Wanda talking to Natasha and Peggy. Wanda smiled when she saw them, and said goodbye to the other two girls to come up and give Vis a kiss on the cheek.
"How are you this morning, my dear?" Vis smiled lovingly down at her.
"Better now that I'm with you," Wanda smiled lovingly back up at him.
"So gross," Loki rolled his eyes, though part of him couldn't help but imagine Sylvie looking at him like that someday. It wouldn't be so gross then.
He felt an eraser bounce off his head.
"Ouch!" he huffed.
"You brought it upon yourself," Wanda grinned, then picked up her eraser off the floor before stuffing it back into her pocket.
"I suppose I did," Loki muttered as he watched Steve exit the office and join Peggy, not noticing Nat's displeasure.
It was third hour when Loki finally got what he'd been waiting for. He'd never been happy to have a class with Quill before, but now it seemed like a divine gift.
Principal Fury interrupted the class by knocking on the door. He was with two other men, the school police officer, and Thanos himself.
Thanos had always been an imposing figure. Tall and muscular, he made even Thor look tiny in comparison, but today he seemed absolutely massive. The hallway seemed too small to contain him. Loki could practically feel the heat of his rage from across the classroom. Perfection.
"I need Peter Quill," Fury said to the teacher, who just nodded.
Quill just looked confused. "What did I do?" he asked as he gathered his stuff.
Usually Loki would call it an obvious bluff, but this time he knew it was real. Quill didn't even know what he was in for. Not yet.
"Don't act stupid, kid," Thanos growled. Loki was suddenly terrified for his own life and the statement hadn't even been aimed at him.
Quill went sheet white. "I-I really don't know!" he tried to defend.
Thanos took a step forward, towards Quill, only seeming to stop because the police officer was between them. "I'm pressing charges. Sharing that photo of my daughter constitutes possession and distribution of child pornography," he answered chillingly.
"Wha-I didn't share any photos of Gamora!" Peter shook his head feverishly in denial.
"We have proof!" Thanos answered.
Fury shook his head with a sigh. "Come on, kid. My office. We need to talk about this."
Quill went with the three men, stuttering out a defense as they went.
Sylvie got the story from Nat at lunch. The whole school was talking about it. Apparently Quill had sent a nude selfie of Gamora to the football team's group chat, bragging about fucking her. To everyone's surprise, Steve Rogers of all people had screenshotted the text.
The guys on the team gave him shit about it, but it wasn't for personal use. Instead, he'd taken the screenshot right to Principal Fury, who had called Thanos about the incident.
"I just can't believe he'd be that stupid," Val said. "Why was Gamora even dating him in the first place?"
"I mean, he was stupid enough to post his own nudes," Nat replied. "And that's where you might find your answer."
"Still! Steve Fucking Rodgers is in the group chat, of course Mr. Perfect would turn him in," Val shook her head. "What a dumbass."
"I just feel bad for Gamora," Sylvie sighed. "I can't imagine what she's going through right now."
"We should go visit her after school," Nat suggested.
"Can't. I have SAT prep, and I need all the help I can get," Sylvie sighed. "But tell her I wanted to be there?"
"Of course," Val nodded.
Honestly, Sylvie wished she'd just gone to see Gamora, she couldn't focus at all on her test prep. Her friend was hurting, and she wanted to be there! Gamora would be there for her…
Eventually, she gave up and just told the teacher she didn't feel well. She'd just take the booklet home and do it later.
On her way out of the school, she was surprised to see other students in the parking lot. It was too late for the kids who didn't stay after, and too early for those that did, but there were two people in the parking lot. As she got closer, she realized they were screaming at each other.
And was that Loki? Sylvie knelt down behind a car to 'tie her shoe' before they noticed her, to listen to what they were saying.
"I can't fucking believe you!" the girl was saying. Nebula? Yeah, that was Nebula's voice.
"I told you that you wouldn't like my methods," Loki answered nonchalantly. "This is what happens when you make a deal with the devil, my dear."
"Oh cut the bullshit. You leaked my sister's nudes! To the entire football team! Do you know how she felt when she got that text this morning?! For fuck's sake!"
Loki shrugged. "I did. But now you have a choice. Either you can come clean, tell Fury what we did and watch your sister get back with Quill. Have all of this be for nothing. Or, you can keep silently hating me from afar. It's up to you."
Nebula fumed, letting out an angry shrieking sound before storming over to her car, slamming the door as she got in, and driving away in a puff of kicked up smoke.
Loki shrugged again, but before he could turn to his car, Sylvie stood up and met his eyes. She'd heard it all, and now she knew the truth of what he'd done.