A/N: Thank you to FMA Human Starter Kit, xbecbebex and PocketRamblr for your reviews to the last chapter!
And happy late Easter to those of you who celebrate. My family played Pokemon Go after church until our phones died and then binged the entire first season of Stranger Things… it was a good day.
Graduation in T-minus 25 days, 16 hours, 41 minutes and 55 seconds. But I am now the proud owner of a surprisingly comfortable Captain America mask, so I've got that going for me.
Her
The summer semester ended, and Loki found himself, for the first time, with two weeks of relative freedom; nothing to do with himself other than getting to and from work and cooking every other night, alternating with Darcy. The right side bedroom was actually starting to look a little more like his bedroom; he'd begun to acquire personal effects (mostly books… actually, almost all books) to fill up the space. He'd bought more clothes—some black jeans and more shirts, favoring the kind with buttons, either the semi-formal ones with a folded over collar, or the casual "Henley" type.
Darcy had started teasing him about being a "sticky note addict," but he was fascinated with the simple mortal invention. As a child, he'd developed the habit of writing in books, recording his opinions when he read, and Frigga had encouraged him to do this, saying that it helped him organize his thoughts better. However, Odin had been upset at him defacing the books in the royal library, and he had seen the old man's point. He'd resorted to using a journal, but then he'd had to carry it around with him, which was cumbersome, and he couldn't then leave the thoughts with the book. With sticky notes, however, he could take notes on anything without ruining a single thing, and had plastered his book collection with them, as well as using them to leave himself reminders all over the room.
Then there was Nina. One decent night of passion in a back room at his first college party had led to an unexpected amount of confusion, attachment and unwelcome drama. Apparently, what had been for him an average hookup had been for her the best lay of her life—unsurprising, he unabashedly admitted—and she'd changed her priorities from one-night-stand to moving into the girlfriend zone. Assuming that this was normal for mortals, he'd gone along with it, taking her to the movies and out to dinner, having sex in cars and on rooftops and anywhere exciting, really.
However, it became evident quickly that she wanted more commitment than he had planned. He was taking 21 credit hours—Darcy was horrified—working 25-30 hours per week—Darcy was still horrified—and now Nina seemed to want him to spend his every waking moment with her. Work and school he could handle, but the unexpected clinginess of such a normally independent woman was a bit much for him to deal with. It didn't help that the persona of Luke had become a bit of a yes-man—he was still learning all the rules and customs here on Midgard, so he didn't yet know how many he could violate before he'd gone too far—so getting some proverbial elbow room was proving immensely difficult.
"You don't sound like you like her—even a little bit," Darcy commented as she lounged on the couch and he lay sprawled sideways on the chair, discussing—"bitching about," according to Darcy—his relationship with Nina. Seeing as she'd been the one to unflinchingly explain the uses of a condom, he had no trouble at all opening up to her about his romantic woes.
"I used to like her just fine," he grumbled. "Then suddenly she's trying to suck the life out of me, physically and mentally. That I don't like."
"Do you even want to be dating her in the first place?" Darcy asked.
"No," he laughed.
"Then why not dump her?" she pressed.
"Because is that something that polite English gentleman 'Luke' would do?" he shot back in exasperation.
"You're being too nice," Darcy quipped. "Be a dick once or twice—everyone does it. It's not like SHIELD's going to arrest you for unloading an unwanted girlfriend."
"Last time I dropped the façade and 'was a dick,'" he returned dryly, "I almost committed genocide—and practically killed Thor. I believe you were there for that one."
"Moderation!" Darcy exclaimed, flinging a pillow at him, which he caught. "Jeez, come on, a little discernment here. You won't magically turn into a world-destroying douche bag just because you need some personal space. There's a difference." Loki fell silent for a long moment, contemplating that. Darcy was surprised—she'd thought it was the most obvious concept in the world.
"I suppose," he mused after a while, "I've never been very good at balance. Nothing I did ever seemed like enough, so I always went too far, bottled up any discomfort I felt until it turned to rage." His voice was a little rougher than usual, and his eyes were fixed on a point near the linens closet, clearly unfocused.
"Out of everyone you've met on earth so far," Darcy asked after it became evident that he was still lost in a time long past. "Do you actually like any of them? Are there any that you'd actually want to spend time with, just 'cause?" he didn't move, but she saw his pupils shift as his eyes focused back in on the world around him.
"You," he responded, then paused thoughtfully.
"Rowena Ahlström," he listed next, naming his professor friend that he'd grabbed lunch with a few times (before Nina started teleporting to his location whenever he got a break between classes). Darcy had seen her in the hallways and had a few conversations in passing with her. She was sharp-witted and clever—very Scottish, and a little 'out there.' Taught anthropology and occult studies, and so many of UC's students referred to her (fondly) as the Wicked Witch.
"Will Mauring," Loki continued—Will was one of his coworkers; a hard-core anime devotee who spent the majority of his salary on supplies to make his own costumes for the many conventions he attended. He was jolly and would make conversation with anyone, and always had something interesting to say, even if it was pretty off-the-wall most of the time.
"Phil Coulson," Loki concluded, his tone indicating that he'd reached the end of the list.
"Coulson?" Darcy echoed in surprise, twisting around to look at him without sitting up.
"Nothing fazes him," Loki explained with a light laugh. "His combination of calmness and dry wit make him enjoyable to be around, especially since most of our conversations are things that would frighten average mortals."
"Huh," Darcy commented, nodding thoughtfully. That made sense. "Glad I made the list," she added with a snort. "Look. Trying to get everyone to like you is a giant waste of time. I know you don't want to make waves when SHIELD is watching you like a hawk, but nobody expects you to be a saint. You should focus on the people you actually like, and just settle for being civil to everyone else. A good rule of thumb is 'do no harm, but take no shit.'"
"Sounds deep and philosophical," Loki quipped sarcastically, but pursed his lips, rolling that phrase over in his head. Then his eyes lit on Darcy's homework pile, and her criminal psych textbook.
"Are you 'shrinking me' right now?" he demanded, only half-serious. He could hardly fault her for using her career skills, he supposed.
"I'm friending you, you ass!" she snapped back, chucking the other little toss pillow at him. He caught it as well, and stuffed both pillows under his back, propping himself up a little further in the nest he'd made for himself in the chair. Darcy stuck her tongue out, then grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV, turning on CSI for background noise while she halfheartedly studied for her first test of the semester.
"Hey, gimmie my pillows back," she asked after a moment, squirming around to look back at him.
"Not if you're going to call me an ass," he responded flippantly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Please can I have my pillows back?" she asked in a passable imitation of sweetness, but with a glint in her eyes that contradicted everything coming out of her mouth.
"Get me an ice cream first," he demanded pettishly. She narrowed her eyes, but stood up, then abruptly changed direction, heading into her room and returning with an armload of pillows from her bed.
"Your move, Mischief Managed," she smirked. He mock-glared at her, then stood as well, entering the kitchen and emerging a moment later with ice cream. The whole remaining half a gallon. With a spoon stuck right in the middle.
"Whoa, whoa, no," she backtracked. "Hand that over, mister, you gotta share!"
"Well fetch a spoon, then," he responded, his words a little garbled because his mouth was already full of frozen mint chocolate perfection.
-0-
Jeff dumped Darcy over text at around two the next morning.
Loki had gotten up in the middle of the night to grab a glass of water and found her curled up on the floor in the living room, her back to the couch, phone gripped in nerveless fingers. She wasn't crying per say, but her eyes had a reddish tint to them suggesting that either she already had or would, at some point in the not so distant future. Guessing the problem, Loki wordlessly sat down on the floor beside her, and she handed him her phone so he could read the needlessly dramatic text.
It was a bluff, of course—Darcy already knew it without Loki bringing it up. Jeff wanted to force her hand, make her desperate to get him back so she'd agree to his terms about their living situation.
"It's not even about that," she sighed, voice coming out rough but strong. "I was gone for a long time, long distance sucked, now he thinks we're going to make up for lost time, 'cause it's not like I have a life to live outside of him, or anything. He doesn't like that I don't want to spend all my time hanging out with his friends or going to his stuff—I don't want to be 'we people.'" She swallowed thickly and cleared her throat.
"We've been falling apart for a while now," she admitted with a shrug, taking her phone back and locking it. "If we weren't, this," here she gestured between herself and Loki, "wouldn't be a problem." She sniffed, then casually rubbed at her eyes. Loki sighed quietly, then, noticing the tight set of her neck and the hunch of her shoulders, stated to gently massage the back of her neck with his long fingers.
"Do you want him back?" he asked. Inexperienced with having his own relationships as he was, he certainly knew his way around getting other people to do what he wanted. Jeff wasn't that complex, and Darcy was sharper than anyone gave her credit for. He was reasonably confident he could coach her through pushing the right buttons. But she shook her head.
"If I have to play games and manipulate him—if I have to do shit like this," she added, holding up her phone and glaring at it, "then the relationship isn't worth it. Thanks, though." She sniffed again, leaning subtly into his hand, appreciating the little physical comfort.
-0-
As it turned out, the actual breakup was nowhere near being the difficult part. Jeff started hanging around the outside of Darcy's classrooms, posting social media messages with double meanings, spreading rumors about her and generally making as much of an ass of himself as possible.
Although Darcy was armed with her Taser and perfectly capable of handling herself, there began to be an unspoken agreement among her close friends that she didn't go anywhere on campus alone. They'd surround her in little knots of conversation, casually walking her to classes so that if Jeff wanted to say anything he'd have to say it to the whole group. It wasn't that any of them thought she was in any bodily danger, but they were concerned about how many confrontations she'd have to endure until the whole thing would blow over.
It was a tribute to how run down she was by the whole thing that she didn't complain more than once or twice about them "guarding her like she was queen freakin' Elizabeth." She'd actually wait in the classroom for the extra two minutes so that her friend Beth could pack her things and walk her to the parking lot. She'd go to lunch with Loki on one side and her friend Ted—also six feet tall—on the other. She even agreed to the three-way carpool her coworkers KJ and Vicki had been inviting her to join for the last month.
Although Loki had met and was on equitable terms with most of Darcy's friends, it was this that actually made him and them stand up and take notice of each other. They'd seen him as just a cardboard cutout of a "nice gentlemanly person," and he'd seen them as foreign, other, mortals outside his immediate notice. But now he was noticing them more, the way they banded together to stand by their friend—and they were noticing him more, and for once, the "niceness" they were seeing wasn't fake; he really did want to protect Darcy Lewis.
Darcy, for her part, was getting frustrated with the whole situation. She appreciated everyone's help, but was upset that it was necessary in the first place. A few drunk-dials where nothing got resolved led to and an in-person meeting that ended with her texting Beth to please take her lunch break and come to the café two doors down from her job to interrupt them as accidentally as possible. (Beth, being just as blunt and snappy as Darcy, had walked right up, plunked herself down at the table, stolen Jeff's drink and told him unceremoniously to buzz off. Loki privately thought the girl would have gotten along well with Sif.)
Professor Ahlström had noticed the stress and invited Darcy to use her office for escape purposes whenever she needed to. She'd also offered to get him suspended for stalking if the behavior continued—as it might adversely affect Darcy's academic success. Darcy had turned her down for the second one, but taken advantage of the first offer twice in two weeks.
If that didn't signify that things had gone too far, then Loki didn't know what did.
A/N: Welp, TTFN folks! Back to our regularly scheduled Easter Egg hunt (just in time for Easter to be over, lol) this chapter's eggs are both from Kyle XY.
Review! Or I'll sick a bilgesnipe on you :-P
Chapter 11: Vengeance
There were very few people in the world—the cosmos, actually—that Loki would call "friend." Of this small, select list, Darcy Lewis was currently at the very top, in bold capital letters, highlighted in multiple colors and circled in red ink. She was fun, she was low-drama, she'd believed in him when no one else would, she kept the freezer full of ice cream and didn't get personally offended if his topics of conversation sometimes went over her head.
So, while she seemed to be handling her breakup fairly well, he found himself unable to so easily forgive the wretched, unworthy thing, who had broken up with her specifically for manipulative purposes, and had then spent the next week haranguing her once he realized she wasn't going to come crawling back to him.
While Loki had no intention of winding up back in SHIELD custody over this, revenge was still very much in order.