TW: Brief mention of emotional abuse within a relationship (4th to last paragraph).


MEET ME AMC IN TS 11:15 ON SAT

Loki squinted at his phone as if that would somehow help him figure out if the text was actually meant for him or if it was a wrong number. He wagered it was the latter, as he rarely went to a movie. Certainly not a Saturday matinee. And most certainly not with anyone else.

He decided to text back: Who is this?

SYLVIE

SEE YOU SATURDAY


"Are you sure you're not an undertaker?" Sylvie looked Loki up and down as they stood in line for popcorn and drinks. He was in black slacks and a black button up again with shiny black shoes. Sylvie noticed his phone and wallet were both black too.

"I'm sure," Loki said, busy looking around at the other patrons. It was a mix of families, couples, and solo filmgoers.

"And yet you've dressed like one both times I've seen you," Sylvie quipped as they moved up one spot in line.

Loki rolled his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with wearing black. I don't know if you've noticed, but loads of people in this city wear black. Myself included. Why are we here?"

"So I can pay for my Frozen Coke like a responsible member of society." It was Sylvie's turn to roll her eyes. "Oi, do you want one, or a water, or something? My treat. And I'm not sharing my popcorn, so if you want some, speak now because once we get inside you're on your own."

"You're kind of bossy."

"If by 'bossy,' you mean 'assertive,' then yes, I am 'bossy.'" Sylvie smiled at the cinema employee behind the register. "Hi, yes, may I please have a large Frozen Coke and a medium popcorn. And this one will have…" She looked up at Loki.

"Um, I'll have a bottle of water and some Twizzlers please. Thank you." He gave the cinema employee an awkward smile then turned to Sylvie as she scanned her phone to pay for their snacks. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Sylvie said nodding toward the popcorn, candy, and his water. "Can you get that while I get my drink? I need two hands."

"Sure," Loki replied as he gave another smile to the cinema employee before grabbing their items and following Sylvie.

After she got her Frozen Coke, Loki let her lead the way to their theater and seats, letting her choose which of the two she preferred (even though the view was the exact same). They got situated and she took her popcorn from Loki.

The theater had only a handful of other guests in it and everyone was pretty spread out.

"So, why are we here?" Loki asked again, hoping for an honest answer this time.

Sylvie took a deep breath and angled herself toward Loki. "I don't know what it means, but Mobius said that this counts toward whatever it is that you two are meeting for."

"Us going to a movie?"

Sylvie shook her head. "It didn't have to be a movie. I just picked this so we wouldn't have to talk." She scrunched her nose at him and looked a bit guilty. "He said you were going through some stuff, but didn't say what. And I'm not going to pry because I don't really want to talk about myself either. So I figured if we were watching a movie, then neither of us have to say anything. Plus, I wanted to see this movie, but I wasn't really looking forward to going alone. So, I'm using you for company, but also letting myself be used as your babysitter or whatever it is that Mobius would normally be doing."

Loki chuckled at her candor. "That… actually was a good plan."

Sylvie smiled and took a sip of her drink. "Right?"

The theater lights dimmed and the trailers started. Loki was surprised at how much he enjoyed the experience. The movie was okay—just a cookie cutter action movie with a bit of comedy sprinkled throughout—but every now and then Sylvie would laugh and it would make him smile. She somehow seemed to react to jokes just a hair faster than anyone else in the theater and her laugh would set off a chain reaction from the handful of other guests. Loki found it enchanting.

It was Sylvie's first time back to a movie theater after her relationship fell apart. She and her ex, Thomas, would go at least once a month. At the beginning of their relationship, they would trade off who got to pick which movie they saw. But she realized over the past couple years that every choice had been his.

This was the first time Sylvie was doing anything of substance outside of her uncle's apartment since temporarily moving in a few weeks prior. She put on jeans and a gold sweater and pulled her hair back into a short ponytail. She wasn't trying to impress anyone, but it felt nice making sure she felt mostly confident in herself before she left for the movie theater.

Sylvie felt a little bad that she pretty much made Loki go to the movie with her. But it was something she was so used to doing with Thomas and she thought that the lack of someone next to her would upset her during the movie and she didn't want to be that person who cried for no reason in public, especially at a movie that did not warrant tears of any kind.

The few times Sylvie looked over at Loki during the movie, he seemed to be enjoying himself. He laughed out loud a couple times, but mostly would just silently chuckle to himself, his shoulders shaking back and forth. She wondered if he had ever laughed so hard that his stomach hurt. She wondered if he would even allow himself that kind of joy. It wasn't that she didn't think he was capable of being entertained, he just seemed so reserved and calculated with a bit of a frosty exterior. Surely he couldn't be that frosty on the inside too.