"Yay, he made it back alive!" Linn cheered when Loki and Maisy came home after the meeting with the Avengers. Loki smiled at the girl, glad that she'd forgiven him as soon as Maisy had. In years past he would have been disgusted with his attachment to friendship with a laundry maid, but now he found that out of the small group of people he liked, she generally made him laugh the most.

"Yeah," Maisy looked at him with narrowed eyes, "But you should see the size of the hole in his back! It's like he's trying to freak me out or something!"

"Dere's a hole in your back?!" Linn jumped out of her chair and ran over to him, "Lemme see! Was it from a terrible monster? Or an evil Hydra-man?"

"The latter," Loki replied.

"He needs lots of rest," Maisy said, "And if he tries to not rest then I give you permission to drug him or knock him out."

"Oooh boy," Linn rubbed her hands together in an entirely too eager fashion and then her eyes lit up, "Hey if you's needing rest and relaxation, den you's really gonna like your surprise!"

"Surprise?"

"Linn!"

"Whoops. Well, you can't hide the surprise from him forever! Better show him now before I let it slip!"

"Alright, alright," Maisy grabbed Loki's arm and pulled him toward their room. She flung open the door and gestured inside, "Ta-da!"

Where their tiny twin size bed normally sat there was now a queen size futon - with it's mattress connected to it. Loki took a step out of the room and looked in the living room, finding their old futon was still sitting in its place with its assortment of pillows strewn across it.

"Where did we get a second futon?"

"My boss' son was selling his because he's finally moving out of her basement. So I bought it from him for cheap and he and his brother brought it by this morning!" Maisy grinned proudly, "He even had it cleaned for us!"

"Which means I get the twin bed and I don't hafta sleep on the air mattress anymore!" Linn squealed, "I bought some turquoise polka dot sheets to celebrate!"

Loki wondered at what point a mattress had become exciting to him. In Asgard he had the best of everything and it had been that way since he was an infant. Having a bed to sleep on had never been a question before, but after nearly two months on Midgard he was learning to appreciate the smaller thrills in life.

Norns, no wonder Odin had sent Thor here. Living like a mortal was certainly a humbling experience.

"What do you think?" Maisy asked staring up at him, "I know it's not an actual bed and mattress, but I figured this would be better than trying to squish onto that tiny bed with your feet hanging off the end."

"What do I think?" Loki smirked and wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her close, "You want to know what my first thought is?"

"What's that?"

"I think… we ought to try it out," he whispered against her ear.

"Good plan!" She nodded, "You lie down. I'm going to order a pizza and you can just relax after your long and difficult day."

Before Loki could respond, she'd left the room with her phone in hand. He blinked and wondered if she was truly clueless to what he'd been implying or if he'd done something to upset her.

It dawned on him that Linn was still in the apartment and he could have blushed. He turned to look at the girl and smiled sheepishly. How he'd forgotten her in a matter of moments was beyond him.

"Don't worry," she said, glancing toward the kitchen where Maisy was ordering a pizza, "She told me dis morning dat she was getting the futon fingy so I planned a slumber party at Bibi's house wif the girls."

"Ah," he cleared his throat awkwardly, "How clever of you to think ahead."

"I know," Linn winked and skipped out of the room, "Hey Maisy! I'm goin' to Bibi's house! Save me some stuffed crust!"

Casting a human disguise spell for Linn and then also a spell of magical protection, he felt better letting her walk all the way to her friend's house. Once she was gone and he heard Maisy thank the pizza parlor over the phone, he slunk out to the kitchen with his best seductive smile in place. It would be a cold day in Hel when any woman - especially his wife - refused him after seeing that smile.

"It would seem we have the place to ourselves," he approached her and brushed her hair behind her ear.

"We do," Maisy agreed, but she turned away from him and started digging through her purse, "Pizza will be here in thirty minutes. In the meantime we could watch a movie on the futon."

"You can't think of anything more worthwhile to do on our new bed?" Loki chuckled coming behind her and resting his chin on her shoulder. His hands circled her wrists and pulled her hands away from her purse.

"I don't have the foggiest idea of what you might be implying," she shrugged and his teeth clacked together, "Oh! Whoops, sorry! Didn't mean to bump you!"

"It is no matter," he dismissed and spun her around with her back to the countertop, "And you know exactly what I am implying. Perhaps we ought to wait until after the food has been delivered, but once it has arrived…"

She stared right at his failproof smile and shook her head. The smile vanished.

"Nope."

"Pardon me while I phone Hel and alert them of a severe weather change," Loki muttered.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'nope'?" He asked taking a step back and crossing his arms.

"You need to rest. I promised the Avengers that I would make you. How else will your back heal?"

"It was not a deep cut, it is almost entirely healed already," he said and then more softly asked, "Have I done something to upset or offend you? If I have then please tell me and I will gladly watch a film with you if that is what you would prefer."

"No, no!" She smiled at him and he felt his heartbeat pick up at the sight, "But thank you for asking. I just think you need to rest. You've had a long day and you're in for a long day tomorrow. I thought it would be fun to hang out, watch a movie, eat some greasy food."

"And then…"

"You need rest."

"We shall see," Loki leaned in close but instead of kissing her as she was obviously expecting, he backed away at the last second, "If that's what you want, though, I will go and set up your computer and the projector spell to watch a movie in our room."

"Huh?" Maisy fell forward a bit with his sudden absence, "Oh. Yeah. You… do that."

Soon their meal arrived and after Maisy had paid the delivery person she took two plates full of pizza into their room to finish watching the movie they'd started. Loki noticed she kept glancing at him almost hopefully throughout the film (a terribly boring piece about pirates on some ludacris adventure).

As the credits rolled she looked up at him from where she was snuggled into his side.

"So, uh, how are you feeling?"

"As if I might need more pizza," he replied casually, "I'll be sure to save some for Linn, but-"

"I meant your back."

"Terrific," he smiled at her, "Why do you ask?"

"Err, well," she blushed, "I was wondering if, uh, you think you've rested enough."

"Rested enough for what, my dearest?" He batted his eyelashes innocently at her.

"You can stop the act," she rolled her eyes.

"I don't have any idea what you are- mmm!" His words were cut off by her grabbed the front of his shirt and pulling his lips to hers.

It would seem the normal weather in Hel would resume.

A note from the author: Some smoochie-smooch fluff for you Saturday! I hope you enjoyed it! I always feel a bit awkward writing this sort of thing so hopefully it doesn't come off as too cringey. :P

Thanks so much for reading! I will see you in the next chapter!