Chapter Thirty-Four: Out Loud
Loki strolled down the hallway in his new form with Sasha hooked under his right arm. The puppy stared around curiously, happy for each new thing she saw. He headed for Eve's room purposefully without rushing. He concentrated on keeping his pace casual and refused to lend any brain power to the issue that needed it most. He didn't know where to begin. He could just tell her what she'd want to hear, spin some yarn about passion and uncontrollable emotions. Yet he wasn't certain that he wanted to win that way.
"Darcy!" called a voice behind him and he spun seamlessly around after a step to see Steve slowly jogging to catch up.
"Hi!" Loki greeted in Darcy's bubbly tone.
Steve pointed at Sasha and laughed. "Shouldn't she be walking if you're taking her for a walk?"
Loki smiled and giggled. "You could be right," he joked. "I'm just taking her to see her mom."
"Well I'm sure she'll like that. Can I walk you there?"
Loki fought back a scowl. He wasn't an old woman needing help to cross the street. "Sure!" He beamed and let the Captain lead the way. It hadn't taken long with Darcy for him to pick up her speech patterns. She was fairly simple and equally unpredictable, which made it easy to imitate her. She was a freeform object, so it didn't matter what he drew.
"Has she been behaving?" Steve asked.
"Oh, she's amazing. She can do whatever she wants. She's too cute to say no to," Loki gave her a playful squeeze.
"Kinda reminds me of someone," Steve jabbed him lightly with his elbow.
Loki stared straight forward. Not making the expressions he wanted to make was proving harder by the second. The man was flirting. If only he knew what was under the skin.
Steve gestured toward Eve's door as it came closer. "Not a long walk, but here we are. Maybe next time we can go somewhere not in the tower?"
"That would be nice," Loki swept the keycard across the sensor. He pushed the door open and hesitated. Steve had yet to begin walking away.
"Can I have your phone number?"
Loki pursed his lips, unsure how to proceed.
"I'm not very good at texting, but if you don't mind I'd like to give you a call sometime."
Loki's thoughts scrambled. He didn't know the girl's phone number. He decided to turn him down, all at once getting into it. It would be fun. Just as he opened his mouth, Sasha realized where they were and leapt out of his arms. She sprinted into the room without trepidation. "I have to take care of this," he said and quickly chased after her. The door shut with a heavy thud behind him. Sasha was running in circles around Eve's bed trying to get to her. She was not yet big enough to jump up there on her own.
Eve paid her no attention, her eyes were glued to him. He pushed into her brain before her expression gave him away. He left a thought for her. They see Darcy. She sat completely still and gathered herself.
"Are you not happy to see her?" Jane looked slightly confused and stood to catch the dog. It proved a small challenge to snatch the eager dog from the enthusiastic circles she was running around and under the bed. Once caught, she handed her over to Eve, who gladly took and pet her while distractedly gazing at Darcy. "You've met Darcy before, right? Yeah, I'm certain you have…"
"Yes!" Eve looked to Jane and smiled as reassuringly as she could. "Yes, I remember. I was zoning out for a moment there."
Loki sighed lightly at the sight of his brother, sitting on the couch all bulky and muscular and blonde.
"Hello Darcy," Thor said.
"Yeah, hey," Jane added once she'd turned around.
"Hey guys," Loki feigned delight in seeing them and wondered how much small talk he would have to engage in before he could safely sit by Eve's side. "I thought she might like a visit."
"Who?" Jane asked. "Eve? Or Sasha?"
"Both, I guess," he answered.
"Don't lie. Was the responsibility getting to be too much for you?" Jane laughed, but her tone held a vague hint of seriousness. They really didn't trust Darcy with anything, did they?
"Oh, you know me," Loki shrugged his shoulders and took a pair of cautious steps toward the bed.
Eve clutched her puppy and tickled under her chin as she wiggled excitedly on her lap. However, her eyes were glued to Loki. Hearing him speak in Darcy's girlish fashion was unnerving to say the least. She was glad to see him. She'd assumed it would be a long while before he made another appearance. He was bolder than she'd thought. Suddenly, she was afraid. He was taking a big risk, especially when his brother was here. What was he here for? Was he going to do something brash and dangerous? Again? Was he going to hurt her? She thought about the way their last encounter had ended. Technically, he was kissing her with a great deal of feeling behind it right before the door was opened and he'd gone. The anticipation was killing her. There was no way to predict. "Thank you for watching her for me, Darcy," she spoke with such caution that it sounded unnatural. Jane and Thor stared her way with curious eyes.
"It's not just me, right? It's weird," Jane pointed from Eve to Loki and back. "What's up?"
"Yeah, do you have a problem with me or something?" Loki played along and threw his hands on his hips.
Eve bit her lip and forced her involuntary grin not to surface. "I don't have a problem with you!" She promised defensively. "I don't know why that sounded so strange."
"Well good!" Loki took the opportunity to sit on the edge of the bed on her right side. He acted as though he were there to pet Sasha. "I'm having a really great time with her. She's very good. But she has so much energy! And I think she misses you."
"That's nice to know," Eve was capable of being casual now, even as the smell of him filled her nostrils and took her somewhere else. Could they smell him? She assumed not. "I miss her too."
Loki said nothing else and left no more thoughts for her to find. She began firing questions at him from her own mind in the hopes he was listening. Why are you here? What if you get caught? What's the point of this? He didn't answer any of them. He sat and pet the dog and said nothing at all. She became frantic. What? What do you want? Why won't you answer me?
"You're very quiet, Darcy," Jane noted after some time had passed. "Is something wrong?"
Loki released a convincingly troubled sigh, fueled by the growing number of things that had gone wrong in his own life. "Something happened just now. I'm not sure how I feel about it."
"Oh yeah?" Jane prodded. "What happened?
"I think Steve asked me out."
"Whoa, Steve? I don't think I've ever heard you call him by his real name," Jane laughed. "But-really? He did? Really?"
"Is that so surprising?"
Eve laughed despite herself. The thought of Steve hitting on Darcy when it was actually Loki inside made her feel very giddy indeed.
"Oh, you all think this is so shocking!" Loki glared at Eve and with his left eye threw her a knowing wink. Then he looked back to the couple. "He asked for my number. I didn't give it to him, I got distracted…"
"Why not? He's so nice! And he's hand-" Thor shot Jane an instantly curious look and she rerouted her thought, "-y. Handy." Thor rolled his eyes and smiled.
Loki had an amusing thought. "Why don't you give it to him for me?"
"Why do I have-"
"Please? I'm too nervous!"
"About a guy? Liar."
"Normal guys are no big deal. He's...he's…"
"Tubular?" Eve assisted. No one laughed. "That was...a joke. Never mind."
Jane caught on and laughed briefly. "I get it!" Eve tried desperately to swallow her embarrassment. "Okay, Darc, next time I see him, I'll give it to him."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Loki bounced up and down a few times on the mattress and as he did, his hand slid nonchalantly on top of Eve's. When he didn't move it away, she saw it was intentional and stroked his palm with her thumb. "I have to go charge my phone, then."
"It's not like he's going to call you now…" Jane pointed out.
"Whatever. I'm too excited." He leaned in to hug Eve as though it were a result of his excitement over Steve. His lips brushed up against her ear and buried themselves there. He whispered, "I just wanted to say it out loud. I'm sorry," and squeezed her tight before pulling away.
Once the door was closed, Jane immediately began to enthuse about the possibility of Darcy and Steve. Eve nodded in general agreement while feeling empty and fighting back irrational, unreasonable tears. She didn't know why she wanted to cry. She didn't know why she wanted to scream and run after him and talk everything to death until it was better again. But at the root of it all, the reason was the question. She didn't know, and it infuriated and upset her. Regardless of all that, she wished he had stayed. Just sat with her, not speaking, for a long time. It would have been better than a taste. A tease. She never assumed she would have answers readily available to her this soon, but the thought crossed her mind when she saw him. And he gave her nothing. A wink. A brush of his hand. An apology. And nothing.
A/N:
Many many apologies for how long it's been! Dealing with job stuff and apartment stuff. Everything should be settled by next month :) Anyway, I am so grateful! This story has over 100 followers and over 30,000 hits, something I never even considered a possibility when I started. I'm so glad this interests people and that I have a lot of loyal readers! You guys are awesome!
