Chapter Six: Let Me Show You
Thor stepped into the chamber and shut the glass door behind him. Looking on, Jane conferred with Erik. "This is definitely, absolutely going to work, right?" She pleaded with him.
"You checked my work more times than I'm comfortable with, given that you know I know what I'm doing. If it doesn't work, you'll be just as shocked as I will be." She watched nervously as he left her to make the final preparations.
Natasha snuck in the back of the group, which consisted of every Avenger plus Jane, Eric and Darcy. Fury noticed her despite her best efforts and strode up to her, long cloak flowing behind him. "He's not coming?" He wondered aloud as he stood next to her, eyes focused ahead of him.
"No, he's not."
"I expected as much."
"You should talk to him," she suggested.
"He needs time to cool off," he rebutted before leaving her again.
Bruce was the next to approach her, and he seemed unable to find the correct words to ask her the same question. She looked his way and spared them both the awkward silence while he figured it out. "No," she said, "he's not coming." Bruce recoiled the tiniest bit.
"Why not?" He prompted.
"I sense he's ashamed of what happened. He lost his cool, he blames himself." She put her hand on her brow as a visor, the sun was shining bright through the windows, as she watched Erik step away from the machine and nod to Fury.
"He shouldn't be ashamed, it was just a fluke, he-"
"You don't have to tell me, Bruce. I've said the same things you're thinking to him a hundred times by now."
Fury cleared his throat and stood in front of the group. "Listen up! Once Thor is gone, we will need to be alert. Eyes and ears open all the time, people. Hopefully he won't be gone long, but if we can find leads before he returns, we'll all be better for it. Erik, if you'd do the honors," he turned to him and nodded, suggesting that he start the machine.
Erik pushed the necessary buttons on the control panel and turned his gaze to Thor, who was swallowed up in a blue flash and then gone. Jane watched anxiously as he checked every monitor twice. "Success!" He shouted, to a round of applause.
Fury shushed them. "Yes, wonderful, very good. Now get to work-all of you!"
Elsewhere
When Eve awoke from her nap, Loki was still there-now halfway through the hardcover novel. She stretched and sat up. In response to her stirring, he closed the book and set it aside. "Is that boy going to come back?" He asked her promptly.
She was still rubbing her eyes when the query floated through her ears. "I don't know. He can do what he wants, I suppose. I mean, he only came here because-hey!" She pointed at him accusingly.
"What? I'm listening!" He defended himself prematurely.
"No, not that! What did you do with my cell phone?"
"The vague rectangle with the blinking light?"
"Yes! That's why he came over, I wasn't answering his messages. What did you do with it? If I text him at least sporadically, he won't have a reason to come here. He'll still be annoyed but-"
"No."
She didn't respond right away, expecting there to be more. "Do you want him to come back? Because I bet he will. To apologize or something when he gets no further answers from me. He'll think I'm mad and he won't be wrong. In case you haven't picked up on it, I've been very on edge the past few days. And-let me add-very cooperative!"
"Cooperative?" He leaned into her in astonishment. "At one point, I believe you kneed me in the chest. Cooperative…" he said the word like it didn't have a meaning printed in the dictionary, "you also got up in the middle of the night to look for you vague rectangle-no doubt to call for help!"
"What would you have me do? Lay down and die?"
Loki paused before putting a hand on her cheek tenderly. As each finger made contact, she leaned her face into it, reacting to his touch. Just as his fingertips slipped into her hair, he delivered a harsh, "Yes." She pushed his hand away, disappointed in her inability to perceive his tricks. Of course he wasn't being gentle, of course he wasn't being affectionate. What had she expected him to say? 'My goodness, Eve, you're right, let's go to the police, no hard feelings.' Preposterous. Yet, on some deeper level that had taken control of her just then-she had wanted him to say something kind. Usually when a man touches a woman that way, they say something romantic or charming. Instead, he had implied it made no difference to him if she lived or died. Which, she supposed, it didn't. That was invariably true. Still, when Sam put his hand on her face that way the week before, it hadn't felt like that. There was no spark or real desire with Sam. Now, she felt something entirely different. Something she forced herself to ignore.
"You heard me leave last night?"
"Of course I did."
"Why...why didn't you…" she trailed off and avoided his eyes.
He rose from the bed and threw his arms out for a moment, exasperated. "Why do you need to question it? Am I correct to assume that the rest of your question would have been 'why didn't you kill me?' Why on earth ask me that? Why can't you just be grateful that I haven't? Do you need a reason to continue existing?" When she simply sat there pondering his truths, he was forced to turn in on himself in the silence. Why hadn't he just gone and killed her? He could argue that it was easier than finding another place to stay for now-but why make rationalizations in his own head? There was no one up there to judge him for his thought processes or critique him. He hadn't killed her because he didn't want to. He forced himself to leave it at that.
"Fine," she agreed, "thank you, I guess, for sparing me for my foolishness."
He glared at her, annoyed by her suddenly diplomatic words. "But?"
"But...I'm not wrong about Sam. If he doesn't hear from me, he'll resurface."
"Why does he care so much for you?"
"We grew up together. He's like a brother to me."
Loki laughed. "I don't think it's quite like that for him."
"I suppose not. Now, my phone?"
He fetched the device from its hiding spot in the top compartment of her bedroom closet. "Teach me how to use it, I will speak to him for you."
"That's-" she furrowed her brow, sure that Sam would also consider something wrong if her texts read like Shakespeare.
"Better than nothing," he completed the thought for her.
She nodded once and let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, let me show you."
The rest of the day consisted of the most frustrating tutorial she'd ever have to give. For a smart man, it took him a long time to grasp the concept. By the time the sun had set, a text came in and he leaned away from the phone in alarm as it vibrated. He unlocked the screen and was able to successfully reach the conversation. She gave him a mini round of applause that he did not appreciate. "It says...hey, about earlier, and then just three periods."
"Tell him that I'm sorry and that I was just embarrassed."
"Why would you be embarrassed?"
"Just type," she spat.
He began to, and then continued, "Do you mean embarrassed about your one night stand? That's a shame, Eve, you have every right to a healthy sex life."
Her eyes grew wider with each word he said. "I mean, yes, I do."
"This man who is sort of your brother has no right to dictate how you live your life." He thought on his own statement and the parallels it provided to his own life.
Sam had yet to respond, so Eve took the liberty of assuming he would survive off of that for the time being. "I'm going to shower," she told him, which resulted in a blank look from him, "What? I shower at night. I know most people do in the morning, but I used to work overnights and it's just a habit I never shook. Plus, that one I took yesterday didn't really count."
"No-I'm not going to complain about your hygiene efforts. I'll accompany you."
"You'll-you'll-what? No."
"What's the issue? I've already seen you naked."
"That's not how that works. Just because you've seen it doesn't mean you get to anytime you like." She reiterated, "No. Just, no."
"I'm not asking to physically be in the shower with you. Just in the room. And I do need to shower as well, and you'll have to stay in there while I do. I can't lose sight of you. It's either this or neither of us shower until I'm gone. Of course, there is a third option…"
"Does it involve you beating my to death with one of my own limbs?"
"Potentially," he smirked.
"Whatever. I'm going first." She grabbed a couple towels from the linen cupboard and dragged them behind her as they walked to the bathroom. She shut the door cautiously behind them. There was really not enough room for both of them. "Close your eyes," she commanded.
He obliged immediately, taken aback by how forceful she was about it. "You know," he commented as she undressed, "you truly have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to your body."
She double checked to make sure his eyes were still closed. "Thank you?" She took a moment to admire herself in the mirror. She was admittedly fit with soft curves and broad shoulders. Her hair hung to her shoulder blades, straight as an arrow. Her attention turned to him now, standing still and obliging her request for privacy without much fuss. He was undeniably handsome, with sharp features and silky black hair. His figure was obviously strong but an understated strong. When he asked her, "Why is this taking you so long?" she had moved close enough to him that she could reach out and touch him. His words shook her out of it and she shuffled to turn the water on.
When she hopped in, Loki opened his eyes. Why had she come so close to him? Why didn't he object? Why did he agree to her request for privacy? He caught sight of her figure's outline through the shower door as she lathered shampoo into her hair, and experienced another flashback to when she'd stood proudly before him. She had taunted him, even, and caught him off guard in more than one way with her actions. I don't hate her, he thought, and closed his eyes again.
A/N:
Writing slow buildups like this one is pretty challenging for me. We all know what we want them to be doing, haha. The payoff is always better this way, though. I would love, love, love to know what people are thinking about the story so far! Even if you hate it XD Tell me what you like, don't like, what you'd like to see, what you think would be fun or funny. Make predictions, I wonder where you guys think this is going. I just started the story three days ago and it's just been pouring out of me-good thing I set up an outline for it. Review and motivate me! Thanks so much for reading :D
