A/N: Valentine's Day doesn't always have a happy ending or at least a happy beginning. This was my submission for Marvelously Magical Fanfiction - Love You to Death 2020 - Valentine's Day Fest this year.
This piece was beta read by Grammarly so I apologize for any glaring errors. It is rated T for alcohol use. I hope you enjoy!
SquarePeg72, I hope that I was able to do your prompt justice!
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Lots of love to you and yours!
Love always,
~starr
As Loki awakened from his slumber, he felt a stabbing pain at the nape of his neck. With a groan, he stretched his arms out from his side and felt something unusual beside him. He glanced and spotted a mess of blonde hair lying in a pile on the pillow next to him.
Distraught by the presence of someone unknown in the bed, Loki tossed back the sheets, revealing the pale body of his bedmate. His eyes trailed over the body and took in the very feminine features of the person lying next to her. He was puzzled as to who the young woman was, but before he could allow himself to focus on who she was, he took a few moments to look around the room.
"Where am I?" Loki mumbled to himself, pushing himself into a seated position as his eyes trailed around the room. These were not his bedchambers. Furrowing his brow, Loki tried to recall his whereabouts from the night before but was unsuccessful. The stabbing pain he had awoken to in his neck had now migrated to his temples.
Try as he might, Loki did his best to ignore the throbbing in his head, but what ailed him most was what had happened to him in the last seven hours. The earliest memory from the night before was the conversation he had with The Other telling him of Thanos's plans to help return the Tesseract to Loki's collection of prized possessions.
He remembered being told he was headed to Midgard to find a blonde woman that had accidentally discovered the Tesseract. She had added it to some odd collection of Midgardian things that caught her eye or so The Other had tried to explain. Between the stabbing pain in his temples and the lack of memories from after that discussion, Loki was having trouble focusing on much of anything.
In the silence of his thoughts, he heard the woman in the bed start to stir next to him. She would be waking up soon, Loki thought to himself as he glanced down at her body hidden by the sheets. Someone was going to have to come up with answers to what they were doing here in this place together, their clothing scattered about the room.
Suddenly, Loki felt the soft touch of the woman next to him as she rolled onto her back and stretched her arms above her head. He looked down and watched her face as she realized that she was not alone. Her eyes opened widely and met Loki's stare.
"Who are you?" she mumbled, pulling the blanket to her chest in an attempt to cover herself, only to pull them off of the man lying beside her, revealing himself for the world to see.
Loki fought the urge to roll his eyes at her shock but kindly pulled the pillow out from behind his back, placing it in his lap. "I'm Loki of Asgard, God of Mischief. And you are?"
She stared at him for a few moments before attempting a response. "My name's Luna Lovegood," she mumbled, furrowing her brow as she tried to put together the images that were coming to mind as she thought about how she got to where she was now.
Loki bit back a chuckle when he realized she was experiencing the same inner turmoil that he had gone through upon first waking up, however, the fact that she was in the nude was more distressing to her than it had been to him.
Luna looked at him for a few moments before directing her attention around the room. She had absolutely no idea how she had gotten here or who this man was that was seated in the bed next to her. Even hearing his name had given her no indication as to who he was or how they would have ended up in bed together. "How did we end up here?" she asked, nervously worrying her lower lip.
"I was hoping that you would have the answer to that very question. It would appear that the memories of last evening's events have escaped me and were replaced by a stabbing pain at the back of my head," Loki replied, glancing at Luna out of the corner of his eye. "What's the earliest memory that you have from last night?"
With a sigh, Luna pushed herself up against the headboard of the bed, wrapping the sheet tightly around her chest and attempted to recall her actions from the night before. She remembered getting dressed up for a night out, and she could recall leaving her flat for the night, but she wasn't able to recall where she been heading or who she interacted with after leaving the flat. But apparently, during her night out, she had managed to take an interest in this man - God, she corrected herself.
"All I remember is heading out for a girls' night out with a few of my friends," Luna replied, turning her head to look at Loki. She noticed the disappointment that flickered in the corner of his eyes when she couldn't recall anything more. Apparently, her memories weren't the only ones lacking this morning.
"Your memories are at least later into the evening than mine happens to be," Loki replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "All I can recall is being told that I was to travel to Midgard to reclaim a missing possession of mine."
"Mid-what?" Luna asked, tilting her head to the side as her eyes trailed over Loki's body. He looked Muggle, but he didn't talk like any she had ever met. She could sense his magic, but she wasn't sure if he worked for the good side or the dark side of magic. Only time would be able to tell her the answer to that question.
"Midgard," Loki said. "I think you call it Earth, but on Asgard, it is Midgard, and my brother, Thor, have protected it." Loki rolled his eyes at the mention of his brother's name. Falling in love with a Midgardian was the most foolish thing Thor could have done, but Loki couldn't deny that Thor was happier now that Jane was in his life.
Luna slowly nodded her head, careful not to aggravate the headache she could feel forming at the back of her head. "And what possession were you after?"
Loki turned to look at her for a few moments, and as he did, a new memory rushed to the forefront of his mind.
"The orders have been sent to assassinate the woman who is holding the Tesseract if you cannot sneak away with it quietly. Your target is Luna Lovegood. The Tesseract is being held in her flat near Hyde Park, London."
"What did you say your name was again?" Loki asked, his voice hurried as he was starting to realize who was lying in bed beside him at that moment.
"Luna Lovegood," she replied, cautiously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "What possession were you after?"
"The Tesseract," Loki snapped, jumping up from the bed and gathering his clothes. He made quick work of redressing himself before he began pacing back and forth across the room. He needed to make some sense of his orders and how he ended up in this hotel room with his target. Something wasn't adding up here, and he needed to get to the bottom of it soon. "Where were you heading out to last night?"
Luna thought about it for a moment but shook her head. She couldn't remember the name of the pub that she was to meet Hermione, Ginny, and Pansy at for the night; however, if she could find her mobile.
"Where's my mobile?" Luna asked, standing up from the bed and wrapping the sheet snuggly around her chest as she looked around the room. She spotted her jeans draped over the chair on the other side of the room, so that was the first place she went to look. As she picked them up off the chair, the device in question feel out of her pocket and landed on the seat. "There it is."
Loki watched as she pressed at the device with her fingertips. She was frantically searching for something, but he wasn't sure what that device was going to tell them that their lack of memories couldn't fill in.
"The Tale Bar!" Luna exclaimed, dropping her phone as she raised her hands above her head in excitement.
"The what?" Loki replied, glancing at the young woman with a furrowed brow. "I don't recall attending any bars…"
As the words left his lips, another memory flooded into his mind. He began to recall arriving at Hyde Park, but struggling to locate her flat. He decided that it was in his best interest to search her out in the nearby area and follow her home. He had been given the assassination orders already, so if there was a struggle, his orders were clear.
As he was walking along the edge of the park, he noticed a young blonde woman. He looked like the woman that The Other had shown him before leaving, so he followed her. The Tesseract could be quickly snuck out of the flat once he got his hands on it, so all he needed to do now was get inside her flat. However, as he continued following her through the park, he realized that they were not headed to her flat. They were, in fact, heading into a busy part of town.
"I followed you into the bar," Loki mumbled, collapsing into a chair across the room from Luna. She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face as though she was trying to recall her own actions from the night before.
"You did," she mumbled, nodding her head slowly. "I remember seeing you out of the corner of my eyes a few times. That still doesn't explain how we ended up here…"
"I may be able to offer some insight into that," Loki said, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I offered to buy you a drink about an hour after we arrived at the pub. I was hoping that after a few drinks, you'd invite me back to your flat, and I could get my hands on the Tesseract without having to go through with my other orders."
"Other orders?" Luna asked, furrowing her brow.
"To assassinate you if I could not take the Tesseract back quietly," Loki remarked, turning to give Luna a sympathetic shrug. "However, it would seem that my body had other plans in mind for the evening as it would seem."
Luna wasn't sure what to say. Part of her was grateful that he hadn't killed her, but there was still a part of her that was concerned for her well-being. She was trapped in a hotel room with a man who had been given orders to kill her if she wouldn't give up his property quietly. Taking a deep breath, Luna looked around the room and located the remaining items of clothing that she had on last night.
She decided that she needed to get out of her, but to do that, she needed to get dressed. Luna pushed herself up out of the chair and gathered the remainder of her clothes, making her way to the attached loo. Closing the door behind her, she quickly slipped into her clothes and leaned up against the door. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
Right now, she needed to come up with a plan to get out of here. And that plan needed to involve letting Loki get the Tesseract that he believed to be housed in her flat. The more she thought about the previous night's activities, the more pieces of the puzzle she was able to fit together. The last drink she remembered being bought for her was a Sazerac.
"The bartender must have made that last one extra strong," Luna thought to herself as she exited the loo and returned to the room. She noticed that Loki hadn't left the chair that he was in when she left. "So why did you order me a Sazerac at the pub? No one drinks absinthe anymore."
"That's not entirely true. You were happily drinking it last night," Loki scoffed, chuckling softly to himself. "Besides, of all the Midgardian beverage choices, Sazerac was the most appealing, and I was under the impression it would get me what I was after."
"Well, maybe it will after all," Luna hummed, smiling softly as she walked over to the chair Loki was seated in. "Look, I need to get back to my flat and get ready to go to work. If you promise that you aren't going to kill me, then you can come with me and look for your Tesseract while I get ready. Deal?"
She offered him a hand as she waited for his response. He looked at it curiously for a few moments before reaching out to shake her hand.
"Deal," Loki replied, pushing himself up from his seat and looking down at her small frame as he towered over her. For a moment, he felt inclined to lean in for a kiss, but he couldn't explain why that was what he wanted at that moment.
Luna looked up at him for a moment and tilted her head to the side. She was drawn to the man standing in front of her, and she couldn't explain it. Knowing that he had been given orders to assassinate her didn't stop her mind from finding him attractive and had the desire to get to know more about him. This could be her only chance to kiss him before he disappears forever.
Closing her eyes, Luna leaned forward and pressed her lips to Loki's, capturing his lips with hers. She smiled when she felt his surprise fade away and give in to the kiss. She felt him wrap his arms around her waist, and she followed suit, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her.
After a few moments, Loki pulled away and looked down at the woman in his arms. "What was that for?"
"For not assassinating me in my sleep last night," Luna replied, tossing her head back with a soft laugh.
"For that, you may want to thank the Sazerac," Loki replied, lifting a brow as he watched the smile pulling at the corner of her lips and her cheeks flush with color.
"Shall we go find your Tesseract in my flat?" Luna asked, dropping her hands from his waist and leaning over to pick up her jacket and pocketbook.
Loki nodded his head slowly. "That would be a good plan."
Luna looked back over her shoulder and smiled. Taking a few steps towards the door, Luna stopped once more and waited for him to follow her before reaching for the door. She pulled it open slowly and exited.
Loki followed her out the door, but before closing it, he looked back over his shoulder at the room once more. The Sazerac was to blame for this room, but hopefully whatever happened after they left could be up to their own decisions.
Sometimes orders aren't meant to be followed to the letter. As long as he returned with the Tesseract, the Other would be none the wiser of the events of the evening prior. All thanks to a little extra absinthe added to an otherwise innocent drink.