"Think about it…"
"UGH!" Darcy groaned. Not. Freaking. Fair.
"You can't just do that!" She yelled to the air. "You can't just barge into my apartment, scare the crap outta me, then say you saw me naked and scare the crap outta me again, and then ask if we wanna be roomies?! You can't do that, okay?! You can't! It's… It's just… Not allowed!" Darcy stomped into her bedroom.
Great. Now he had her yelling to no one. And the neighbors already thought she was crazy enough.
"Screw you, dude!" She finally shouted, before plopping down onto her bed. Hmm. Yelling, even if he wasn't there, actually made her feel better. Darcy pulled the covers tightly around her, burrowing into her bed.
Tomorrow was going to contain a very interesting conversation with Tony…
Loki adjusted himself on Thor's couch, deep in thought.
What had he just done? He'd gone to her chambers. Him. He'd held her hand. He'd even asked her if he could stay in her chambers. Sure, only temporarily, but still.
And there was absolutely no reason to all of it. Maybe he'd acted rashly… But why had he done that? He didn't- He couldn't possibly care for a woman, let alone a mortal one, could he? He'd had affairs, obviously. But he'd never… Spent so much…. Effort on them. And this one was merely human too.
It was all extremely…
Confusing.
Darcy pulled her hair back into a side braid, deciding to go with a set of soft, business-style black pants and a dark green blouse; one of her favorites, paired with golden hoop earrings and a matching necklace, and toned golden platform heels.
Looking herself over one last time in the mirror, she jogged downstairs to go hail a cab, ready to go face whatever torture awaited her at S.H.I.E.L.D. Yeah, she needed to talk to Tony, clear things up. And maybe go give Loki a piece of her mind. Maybe.
Darcy practically threw open the grey door, expecting to find Loki sitting in the room she usually saw him in, the general room that opened into the Avengers' conference room. Instead, she saw Tony, sitting in a chair backwards, on some kind of electronic (that he probably designed himself), concentrating on blowing up pixelated spaceships, his fingers flying across the screen, as his score in the upper-right hand corner steadily increased. Well, she had wanted to talk to him.
After a few seconds, a sad noise emanated from the game as Tony's own spaceship exploded. 'YOU DIED' flashed across the screen in huge yellow letters.
Tony groaned, setting it down. He seemed to notice Darcy for the first time. "Oh, hey Darce!"
"Hey." Darcy flashed a quick grin. Now how was she going to get to the point…
"So… You look tired." Tony noted. True. Darcy shrugged.
"I had a bit of a late night." She explained. She had. For some reason, she had had so much trouble falling asleep last night, it was ridiculous, so she had just gotten up and watched stupid movies until she fell asleep on her couch at like two. She shifted slightly. "I think I killed my shoulder…" Her couch was awesome, just not the best to actually sleep on.
Tony raised his eyebrows. "Late night? Killed shoulder? Is this not painfully obvious? Am I correct in assuming all that's because of a certain horn-y guy we all know?" He bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud.
Darcy froze for an instant. Had he just…? God, and she'd given him the perfect scenario…
"What?! NO!" She said, a little too forcefully.
Tony put his palms up. "Hey, you don't need to defend yourself to me!"
"Tony. Get this straight. I am not with Loki."
"So that's why you were making goo-goo eyes at him last night while he held your hand? Because you're totally not with him?"
"G-Goo-goo eyes?" Darcy sputtered. "No! I do not make goo-goo eyes."
"Yeah sure you don't, Darcy." Tony drawled sarcastically. "Hey, Darce, d'ya think you could maybe inform your boyfriend that chucking people out of windows and almost destroying the world isn't nice? Thanks, that'd be a huge help."
"He's not my boyfriend, now would you listen for once in your life?!" Darcy's patience finally seemed to break.
"Fine, fine, fine. You don't need to go all Godzilla on me."
Darcy ignored that last comment. "We are not together in any form or way, okay?"
Tony simply looked at her pointedly
"You're hopeless." Darcy finally threw her hands up in the air in defeat. "Hopeless!" She cried one more time, backing out of the room.
On a sudden impulse she poked her head back in through the doorway.
"If you tell a single soul about your -UNTRUE- suppositions, I swear, Tony Stark, I can and will hang your head on my wall. And oh yeah, I'll tell Hawkeye the truth about who switched all of his arrows to be headed with rubber chickens.
Darcy strode through the hallways, feeling empowered. Sure Tony hadn't believed her. And would probably tease her forever. But that last trump card she'd played was totally worth it. She smirked. That would certainly hold his tongue.
Suddenly, she slammed straight into something. Something tall and hard. She fell back a little from the force of impact, still reeling.
"Do mortals always have such terrible eyesight?" Loki's voice sounded amused. "Or are you just a special case?"
"Shut up." Darcy muttered, still rubbing her head on the spot where she hit him.
"Or did you mean to run into me?" His tone was wicked, his eyes glinting. "You're even wearing my colors." He looked pointedly at her outfit.
Darcy looked down in confusion. Oh, crap. She actually was. She glared daggers at him, then turned around promptly on her heels, starting to storm away down the hallway. She was abruptly halted, a large hand on her elbow, holding her back. The second she stopped moving, the hand immediately shot away as if it had been burned.
"What do you want?" She growled, still refusing to turn around and face him.
"Have you reconsidered my favor?" His tone was hard to read, seeming like a hundred conflicting emotions.
Darcy finally whirled around. Her face felt like it was heating up.
"You can't just… You can't just walk wherever you want, say whatever you want and then just ask me if you wanna stay with me!" Darcy sputtered, not finding a way to properly express her anger.
Loki frowned, towering over her. "I am a god." His eyes flashed dangerously.
"Not here you're not! And especially not in my apartment or to me." Darcy blurted out words without thinking properly, just consumed by her extreme irritation. "You're just an egotistical megalomaniac who feels better by hurting other people."
Suddenly, Darcy felt herself being shoved roughly against the wall, Loki's hands iron grips around her wrists. She squirmed against his grasp, his fingers digging into her skin painfully.
"Watch your tongue." Loki growled, leaning into her.
"Let go!"
Loki pulled his hands away, Darcy stumbling forward a little, and then abruptly, without any warning, he turned around and stormed away without a word.
Darcy watched his back in indignation as she rubbed her wrists, attempting to return feeling to them.
Loki speared a hand through his hair. Again. It had happened again.
Again, he had talked to her. Practically sought her out, even. What was wrong with him? And she… She had behaved with the utmost insolence! Yelling at and insulting him, a god. Did she know no better?! She had angered him immensely.
But… Maybe he had overreacted a little. Loki looked down at his hands. Slowly his fists unclenched as he stared at his fingers, which moments earlier were holding her wrists. He had most definitely left bruises.
Loki sighed.
Darcy scoffed, tossing her bag onto her couch as she shut her apartment door. How dare he? How dare he make her mad, then get mad at her and hurt her and then just walk away?
"How dare he?" She said out loud, looking down at her wrists, which were starting to turn an angry shade of red.
"I assume you are talking about me?"
Darcy shrieked, stumbling backwards and tripping over a roll in her rug, falling directly on her butt. Smooth, Darce, real smooth.
"So you do just fall a lot…" Loki mused.
Darcy quickly scrambled to her feet.
"What the- What are you doing here?!" She was practically shouting.
"Happy to see me?" Loki shrugged.
Darcy sputtered. "Wh-Why- GAH!" She finally groaned, throwing up her hands in defeat, plopping down onto her couch.
Loki walked to her, crouching down so that he was eye level with her. He reached forward, and Darcy instinctively drew back. Loki ignored that, and continued, his hand making contact with her wrists. Darcy winced, they were still sensitive. She glared suspiciously at him. One more minute, and she was tasing him and screaming for help.
His fingers traced lightly over her bruises, and a wave of sweet, clear relief spread from them. Darcy's suspicions vanished and she sighed, relaxing.
"I… Apologize…" Loki stumbled over the words, almost bashful. He obviously didn't apologize often.
"Are you bipolar or something?" Darcy suddenly blurted out, curious.
Loki stared at her for a minute, then laughed lightly. Darcy didn't want to admit it, but that sound… It did things to her. No. It did not. She was supposed to be angry at him for crying out loud!
"You are an extremely odd mortal." He said, a small smile still playing on his lips.
Darcy shrugged. "I know."
Her eyes met his brilliant green ones and her lips even tilted up slightly. And suddenly, she was lost. Lost in those eyes. Darcy almost winced at how cheesy that sounded even inside of her head. But there was no other way to phrase it. She was completely and absolutely mesmerized, her eyes focused on his, every blink lined with long, dark eyelashes only a momentary distraction from the vibrant green captivating her.
Suddenly, Loki averted his gaze to look off the side, straightening up and standing tall, and Darcy snapped out of it, her cheeks flushing a deep scarlet.
"You can stay!" She suddenly blurted out.
"Excuse me?" Loki's voice sounded extremely surprised, and his eyebrows looked like if they rose any higher, they were going to disappear into his hairline.
"I said that you can stay here. At my place. While you fix your own apartment." Darcy's tone was lower. Too late to back out now, Darce.
"I… See…" Loki said slowly; he seemed to be debating internally. "Very well." He finally said, straightening up, and issuing a curt nod.
"I'm going to… Go to the… Bathroom…" Darcy awkwardly stammered, then rushed out and ran into her bathroom, closing the door forcefully.
What the heck. What. WHAT?! He could stay?! Where the heck did that come from?! What was she thinking?! Too late now, she reminded herself.
Darcy looked at her sink, then turned on a tap, splashing water onto her face. Hey, that's what people in the movies always do when faced with a tough situation… Darcy looked into her mirror. The entire front of her shirt was now wet, and water was slowly dripping down her elbows. Yeah, that didn't work…
Oh my god. Loki was now living with her. For like two days. But still. Oh my god. Oh my GOD. WHAT?! He was staying in her apartment, with her. Tony Stark was going to have a field day with this, she thought ruefully. Loki really was staying with her. Wait. She needed to set some serious rules. Right. Now.
Darcy ran back to the living room, to find Loki leaning back on her couch, one leg crossed over the other. Darcy's heart nearly stopped at the sight.
"You're still here." She said breathlessly.
"Obviously." Loki drawled in a sarcastic voice.
Ok. Ok. She needed a moment to get used to this. Ok. Darcy ran her hands through her hair, feeling frazzled.
"So…?" Loki prompted.
"Uhh… Rules!"
"I'm all ears." Loki shifted his body to face her, resembling a child at school so much that Darcy nearly laughed. Nearly. She was still in shock.
"Okay well first of all, uh, I am off limits. So no touching, trouble-making whatever."
Loki raised his eyebrows.
"And secondly," Darcy continued, "Don't touch my personal stuff without asking. And you eat my pop tarts and you will die. I don't care if you're a god, I will track you down and kill you. Or at least make you buy me new pop tarts. Don't make mischief. And actually, you know what? How about no magic at all."
"And when is my bedtime, mother?" Loki's voice dripped sarcasm.
Darcy rolled her eyes. "Whenever I go to bed, because you stay up longer than me, and it's going to freak me out that you're watching me or something and I won't be able to sleep."
"I'll be sure to keep an eye on you, then." Loki said. "And I only must retire here until tomorrow night. I believe my own chambers shall be in order by then."
Darcy shrugged. "I'm going to go eat something. You go… Do whatever godly stuff it is you do all day… I bet it's like stalking people or something." She muttered on her way to the kitchen.
"Oh, by the way!" Loki called. Darcy stuck her head through the doorway of the kitchen.
"What?"
"Your shirt is completely see-through when wet; I like the black lace!"