In was still in the early hours of the night, around 4am, when Kali awoke, realizing what had happened. Ashamed of herself and her actions, she gently climbed out of his bed, and crept down the hallway to her own. She sank into the mattress, covering her face with her hands, sighing.
"Fuck." she murmered to herself, rolling over and trying to sleep.
Her efforts were found uselss as the sun started to rise at 6. She climbed out of the bed, slipping clothes on and heading into the kitchen. She made a pot of coffee and a bagel. She sat down, twittling her thumbs, thinking of what she could possibly say to him once he woke up.
Her time was cut short when she heard stirring from down the hall. Out came Thor, comletely in the nude.
"Good morning," he smirked at her. "Listen, last night-"
"Was a mistake. We shouldn't have done that, and I'm sorry. I apologize for my foolish actions. I just hope we can forget it." she didn't even make eye contact with him, and it was probably best she didn't, or she would have been able to see how much she had hurt him. He turned around without a word, heading back into his room. That's not at all what he wanted to say to her. That's not at all how he felt. But now, he knew he had never felt this hard pit in his stomach, this darkness. He would have to brush it off, it's all he could do.
Kali didn't even finish her food. Taking no time at all, she grabbed the keys and ran out, heading to the Avengers head quarters to get a start on something for the day.
Thor arrived at the head quarters nearly two hours after Kali had. He found her in Starks lab, seeming to have quite a good time going tests with him.
"What are you doing?" he questioned, walking up to Tony and the girl.
"Well," Tony selected a program on his iPad, opening a few files. It opened a large screen with different formulas and pictures. "Kali came here to discuss what powers she posesses, and just how strong they are and to what extent. We've just been doing a few basic tests to figure out how far we can go."
Thro nodded once, then turned to Kali. She wasn't even looking at him, she didn't even acknowledge he had entered the room. She was generating some type of purple smoke and light from her hands, focusing it. Her eyes were a light purple, popping with white bursts like neurons firing. She drifted it towards a piece of faux grass that was laid in a wooden box, the smoke settling to the ground, drifting away slowly. In its place stood a small flower, bright blue petals and a sunny yellow middle.
"Very nice. You can a lot of stuff, Kal. Mind control, mind reading, you can control elements of earth and water, you can create heat. This is great, this is progress." His face was lit up, almost as if she was his newest experiment; well, suppose she was his newest experiment.
"Thank you," she said, stepping down from the slight platform she was in, already heading towards the door. "I'm gonna run and go get some coffee. Would you like anything?" she asked Stark. Before he finished shaking his head no she was out of sight.
Tony could tell that there was definitely something on Thors mind: the way his brow was fixed and straight, his entire body was tensed and the tips of his ears were red. Stark had been a married man for quite some time and knew what all those signs met.
"Something more goin' on with you two?" he walked near Thor, leaning back against a table.
The God of Thunder walked away, not saying a word. He stomped to the other side of the room, looking at the platfor area Kali was previously in.
"Listen, you don't have to tell me. I've been married for a damn long time, I know the signs. She's quet and avoiding you, and you're mad. I'm not very dumb, you know." He walked towards the door. "She'll talk to you eventually. Maybe in a day or two, maybe 200 years. Who knows." And he left.
Thor sighed, and slammed his fist down onto a table. He wasn't mad at her, he didn't even believe she was mad at him; they were both mad at themselves.
Neither of them should have crippled under the situation, no matter what substances influence they were under. He was a God, and she was close enough to one at least to him she was. They should have known better. In those situations you don't let your passion take the reigns from you; you keep your brain in control and surpress everything else.
He needed to get his mind off of it before his emotions became even stronger. He stormed out of the lab, down to the first floor. He figured he could blow off some sort of steam in the training room, maybe even with Cap if he was there.
Kali and Stark spent the majority of what was left of the day at his lab, Thor not making another appearance.
"This is amazing," he was at his computer moving files and checking charts. "You're literally generating a force field, a very strong one." he watched as her energy levels went up by the minute. "It's like you're growing it like a flower, every second." He was impressed. She cut off her power, her eye color fading along with her enery levels.
"Thank you so much for everything today, Mr. Stark." she stepped off the platroom for the final time that day.
"It's not a problem. Truly, thank you. Your powers are amazing, and what I'm learning from them is even more amazing. I'm excited to see how far we can get with them; to find out how strong you really are."
Kali let a soft smile line her lips, thankful for him. He was helping her more than he could ever understand, and she needed that to protect herself. There were doing what they promised; keeping her safe by helping her get stronger.
"I'll, uhm, I'll be back tomorrow some time in the morning? I mean, it that's okay with you. If you have other thin-" He cut her sentence short.
"Non sense. Be here around 10 and we'll pick up right where we left off. I'm excited to see where we can go with this."
She nodded to him, exiting the lab. She sighed, realizing she was going back to he penthouse she was currently sharing with Thor.
She arrived to a dark quiet living quarters. She sighed in relief, seeing that she had beat him there. She went straight back to her bedroom, where she changed quickly into night clothes.
She laid on the bed for a few minutes, racking her mind. It wasn't right to avoid this like she had that morning. She moaned and groaned at her brain, trying to fight off every thought that came up. But she couldn't. She sat up, wanting to kick herself in the ass. It was better if she just took this head on. As if right on que, she heard the main door to the penthouse open. She reluctantly climbed out of her bed and headed into the living room, dressed in a loose fitting black v-neck and red and black plaid printed shorts.
Entering she saw him, tossing a bag onto the couch. He didn't say a word to her, or even acknowledge her, much like she did to him earlier that day.
"He-" she couldn't even get out a single word. She watched him walk right past her, pulling his shirt off over his head and tossing it onto the floor. He continued walking towards his bedroom door, still refusing to accept her existance at the time.
Kali sighed, bending down to pick up his dirty shirt. She walked it down to the bathroom, tossing it into the dirty clothes hamper. She heard his bedroom door open and close once more, and she exited, taking no time opening her mouth this time.
"Thor!" she called out, making him stop his stomping feet and turn around to face her. She wasn't expecting him to actually listen, so she was taken back for a moment, trying to find words to say. He stared at her, his expression something other than anger, and his eyes and brows softened now. "We should talk about last night."
He shrugged. "What about it? You made yourself very clear this morning on your, our, thoughts over the matter." he turned back around, walking into the living room. Kali quickly followed him out.
"No." she said, flat. He stopped at the kitchen counter, leaning over it to listen to her. "I was in the wrong to say what I did this morning; to speak to you how I did." she looked down at her feet. Was she really doing this?
He was still silent, waiting for her to speak more. To him, she had much more to say.
"I am sorry," she started, looking back up at him. "I just didn't want this to happen. We both know what happens when you let your emotions out-weigh your logical thoughts. Things go wrong, they get cloudy. It was a foolish decision." She was even more disappointed with herself as she talked. "I don't know how you feel about this, but-"
"That is true." he spoke, and his voice hit her like lightning through her entire body. "You do not know how I feel about this. Although it is close to how you feel, it is different." he leaned off the counter, walking over closer to her.
She was gorgeous the night of the fundraiser, but he looked at her, breathing her energy in, still not believing how he didn't see it before. She was perfect in every way. Her face, clear of make-up. Just her sunkissed skin and pink tinted cheeks. Her eyes were so soft and warm, whether glowing purple or shining like emeralds. Her small frame looked so fragile to him, and he loved that. Her thick curly hair framed her hair so perfectly, and stray curls fell in just the right places.
He came within two-feet of her.
"I know neither of us should have let that night happen. We should have kept our thoughts steady, not let these dreaded emotions flood them out, but we did not. It did happen," she looked at the ground again, disappointment flooding over her. He grabbed one of her small hands and wrapped his own around it. "and I enjoyed every second of it. I can not say exactly what it is that draws my blood to yours, but something does and I can not fight it. It is like a drug that I breath anytime I am in a room with you. Addictive," he grabbed her other hand and she looked up at him. God fucking damn it, his eyes. They pierced her harder than anything she'd felt in her life thus far. "Satisfying, dangerous, marvelous. It is like I can drink from you for eternity and never be full. I do not know what this is and what it will be, but I care for you; I do." He pulled her closer to him, still grasping her hands between them, staring down at the small girl. "I want to protect you, keep you safe. I want you to be well and taken care of. I care for you, Kali. I've only ever cared for one other woman, a mortal." she gave him an odd look, questioning his sanity for falling for a complete mortal. "But even then, I did not feel like this. We need to work together and keep you as safe as possible. I could not live with myself.." he trailed off, just looking at her. Her eyes were glassy, vulnerable.
He couldn't look at her for another minute. He leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. It was nothing like the first night they spent together. It wasn't rough, or sloppy. It was soft, and sweet, and warm. At first she found her body reluctant, but within seconds she gave in, kissing him back.
He pulled off of her a few seconds later.
"We can forget the events of that night," he told her, referring to all the naughty, dirty, sweaty things they did. "But I will not forget my feelings that night, or how they stand now."
He was right, and she hated that. They could pretend that they never had any type of intimate interaction, but that wouldn't change those deep down set emotions. Nothing would change that, and neither of them could truly figure out why.
"I don't want to forget." she whispered to him, raising a soft hand up to his cheek. "I do not want to forget how I felt and how I feel now, but I think it is best if we muffle them as much as we can." She just meant that things couldn't be normal for them; it was impossible. It couldn't be like Stark; Kali would never be Thors gorgeous wife, he would never show her off. He would never brag about her to every person he came across, and she couldn't walk around with him, alerting others with harsh glares that he was hers, and hers only.
"I understand." he told her, turning to kiss her hand that lay on his cheek. "This is the only place I have that will know my emotions, I promise you that. For your safety and everyone elses, here, Asgard. All of the nine worlds." She let her hands drop off of his face and down to her sides.
"Would you like to join me in my bed tonight?" she asked, the sandman beginning to work his magic on her. She had a long day training with Stark and knew tomorrow would be even longer.
Thor nodded, grabbing her hand and following her into the grey bedroom. The two fit comfrotably in the bed, wrapping their bodies around each other.
They lay, face to face, still awake.
"I am very sorry." Kali said one last time. Thor let out a small chuckle. "What?" she snapped at him.
"Nothing, you are just.." he couldn't even put it into words. "You are yourself, Kali, and there is nothing more beautiful and interesting than that. I am looking forward to seeing what you are capable of, and what we are capable of together."
She smiled softly at him, her eyes falling down little bit by little bit.
"Goodnight, Thor."
"Goodnight, little one." And for the first time, she wasn't mad at the protective phrase he used towards her.