Christie felt slightly strange after the breakfast situation.

The girls carefully made sure not to say anything to her once she re-entered the kitchen. Obviously, Jennie had missed the entire ordeal since she was solely stationed within the kitchens and not as a serving girl - but Renesme was already filling her in with hushed tones, not aware that Christie could easily overhear. It didn't matter though. She was lost in this extremely odd daze, one of which was almost inexplicable. So she simply carried on with her duties as if nothing was wrong. The sooner she finished this shift, the sooner she could return to her quarters to debrief what the hell had just happened.

Loki was cheeky - this she knew. She didn't doubt that he was only behaving that way to shock his family and, as sweet as it felt in the moment, now she had to be wiser. Coulson only sent her to Asgard to monitor potential threats and either diffuse them or warn Earth if it ever 'got out of hand'. Right now she was in an excellent position - living within the palace, up close and personal with the highest ranking family on the entire planet. Any issues within Asgard would naturally pass through the palace, meaning as long as she was living there, she had a good view on everything. Yes, she was super close to Loki, but she was also fairly respected by both Frigga and Odin. Could she really afford to get under their skin? Certainly not. What if she overstepped the boundaries with this relationship?

How would she be able to complete this mission from outside the palace walls?

As Christie lay in her bed deep in thought, there came a light knock. She quietly groaned to herself before swinging her long legs off the bed and making a beeline straight towards the door, cracking it open with a slight wince of anticipation. And of course, there stood none other than Loki with a small smirk plastered on his face. "Ah, I should've known," Christie murmured, stepping aside so that he could come in. She closed the door once he had entered and leant up against it, crossing her arms. "Loki, what the hell was that?!" she suddenly hissed, startling him.

"What was what, Annerledes?" he blinked back in confusion, noticing that she was rather irate.

"That whole performance in the dining room all of a few hours ago? Seriously, what was that about?"

"Ah. So…I can't kiss you then? Is that what you're telling me?"

"No, that's certainly not what-"

"What, was the kiss not good enough?" Loki frowned, although the cheeky shimmer hadn't yet left his eyes. He pressed the tips of his fingers together and looked Christie up and down. "Was the kiss a disappointment, Annerledes? Is that what you're insinuating?"

"Loki, I have a job to do - you do know that, right?" Christie scoffed as she took a few steps closer towards him. "Imagine I get fired because someone wanted to piss off his parents?"

"Oh please, ever the dramatic. You're not going to get fired, Annerledes," Loki drawled, pulling her close by her waist. She held her breath and tried her best to not get swayed by the intensity of his gaze. "Fired? Seriously? Do you really think I'd let that happen?"

"No, what I really think is that you, the appropriately titled 'God of Mischief', have absolutely no boundaries or borderline respect for your parents whatsoever," Christie hummed back, lightly prodding his shoulder with the last few words. Loki's eyebrows shot up and he let out a little huff.

"Wow. You really think that little of me?"

"I was properly introduced to you by a burn on my hand, sir," Christie reminded him with a little smirk. "Or have you forgotten?"

"I haven't forgotten, no. I just thought that we'd been through so much at this point, that the little burn incident no longer mattered," Loki shrugged lightly. "I do apologise if I made you uncomfortable this morning, though. I assumed you'd be able to handle the pressure." Christie couldn't help but giggle at his words. This guy had absolutely no idea who she really was, and clearly the little character she had going for herself was working.

But she didn't mind breaking character for a split second. She was far too proud to appear weaker than she truly was, not to someone like Loki for goodness sake.

"Let me tell you something, Loki," she hummed, taking his face in her hand to forcibly focus his attention on her. "I am far, far from unable to handle anything. This morning was little to nothing to me, regardless of how it may have looked. I have been tested with far worse before." Loki raised an eyebrow and stayed silent for a few more tense moments.

"Well. Where on earth have you been all my life?" he finally smirked, his voice barely above an amused whisper. Christie rolled her eyes and stepped back from him again before walking over to her serving dress that she'd flung onto the floor after her shift so that she could change into something more comfortable. She picked it up and folded it against her chest, still feeling Loki's eyes trained on her. But when she spun around to confront him about it, he had gone. She frowned to herself and turned back around to place the folded dress in her drawer, but suddenly found herself face to face with Loki standing directly opposite her with another wicked grin on his face.

"Oh for the love of ALL that is GOOD and PURE, WOULD YOU STOP-" Loki cut her off with yet another abrupt kiss, pulling her in by her waist once more as the words died out in her throat. In character, out of character, it didn't even matter anymore - Christie practically melted in his arms without so much as a second thought. They finally broke apart and she smirked, unable to stop herself from blushing.

"You're not going to make me do that every time I want you to shut up, are you?" Loki chuckled lightly as his arms wrapped even tighter around her small waist.

"Shut up? I don't shut up for just anyone," Christie frowned up at him playfully. She certainly found him endearing, and somehow he had her stomach in knots most of the time. These were the feelings that she wasn't able to ignore. "Contrary to popular belief, Loki - you're not the boss of me. Your mother is."

"Hm," Loki hummed as he released her again. "Anyway. I actually came here to find out whether you wanted to come horse riding with me tomorrow. I've already asked Mother if she'd give you the day off - in fact she was rather adamant that we do something together."

"Of course she was," Christie giggled to herself. "Um, I guess I'll come along, sure. That sounds…nice."

…

The next day couldn't come fast enough. Whether Christie was willing to admit it to herself or not, she was certainly looking forward to spending one on one time with him. It's not like she had anything else going on. Asgard was beautiful and she quite liked her job, but Loki was the one who brought the excitement that she craved the most. She was an assassin, for goodness sake. This was the thrill she lived for.

Christie made sure to wear the prettiest dress out of the selection that she was given to her when she first landed. Then she attempted to fix her hair the best that she could without straighteners or hair products. After a few minutes of solid frustration, she simply decided to leave it out in an off centre parting. She longed for makeup to spruce up her face a little - but then she remembered that she wasn't her big sister.

She was never very good at that sort of stuff.

Before long, there came that familiar knock at her door again. She glanced at her reflection one last time before gliding across the floor to open it. Of course it was Loki, leaning against the doorframe lazily. His eyebrows shot up in surprise once he lay eyes on her and he woke up considerably. "Well! Good morning," he hummed, clearly impressed.

"Morning you're highness," Christie smiled, giving him a little curtsey. "How do I look?" She spun around in a little circle for him with her hands outstretched in a playful 'ta daaaa' like fashion.

"Utterly delectable," Loki murmured as his eyes stayed fixated on her. He held out his hand. "Are you ready?"

"Born ready," Christie nodded. She took Loki's outstretched hand and, before she knew it - they had both disappeared into thin air, just like before.