"Loki!" Darcy called excitedly, hauling a box into the living room and throwing her purse down. "Come look at all this stuff I got!"

Loki smiled to himself from the kitchen and came out to the living room. Over the past month and a half Darcy had been steadily filling his house with little knick-knacks. It was strange, but not entirely unwelcome. He'd gone twenty-seven years without rubber ducky soap-holders, but now that he had them he could admit there was a certain appeal.

Darcy's newest additions were a bunch of white and blue china dishes, and a cheery yellow teapot. He liked that she was making his home hers as well. He wanted her to be comfortable here.

As he'd expected, his bathroom was, indeed, overrun by feminine beauty products that he didn't understand, and his closet was filled with a mix of their clothes. It was so funny to see one of his suits pressed between two sundresses. So domestic. He hadn't really thought he would ever settle down, and yet it seemed he had. Well, basically. They weren't married, but it seemed pretty inevitable that they would be, someday soon.

She'd gotten curtains for his windows rather than the blinds that he'd been using, and she'd gotten rid of his old rugs and left the hardwood floors bare. The apartment looked so much brighter and more welcoming these days.

Darcy had gotten a job as an administrator at an office building, and she was there Monday to Friday until five. It coincided well with his own schedule that had him home around four from teaching at MIT. He showed her his favorite places in Boston on the weekends, and after work during the week they would tell each other about their days and just generally spend time together. It was a novel experience for Loki to read the science articles that intrigued him so much in front of an audience. Darcy would question him about what he was reading sometimes, and they would get into long discussions about it. Loki's respect for her grew even greater, because while she didn't have a large technical knowledge of much science, she grasped the concepts of what he was talking about quickly and could contribute intelligent, thoughtful input.

It was incredibly nice to live with her, and Loki wanted to show her how much he appreciated having her around. The next day was Valentines Day, and he had something special planned. It had come up in conversation last summer, what Darcy thought about Valentines day.

"It's a bit ridiculous," she'd said, "but I could see the appeal. I wouldn't want flowers though. It's too sad when they just die a few days later."

"A few days?" he'd asked, surprised. He'd had flowers for weeks before.

"Well," she'd clarified, "when you take care of them the way I do it's just a couple days. But the chocolate thing-I could totally get behind that. Oh my god, delicious chocolate and maybe some caramel? Oh yeah. Yeah I could dig that. I could dig that a place in my heart and taste buds."

"What do you usually do on Valentines day?" He'd fished. Somehow none of the relationships he'd been in had overlapped with the holiday before, which seemed to say a lot about the level of commitment he'd had to them. He'd never done anything out of the ordinary for it- it had just been another day.

"Eh," she'd said. "watch TV and read smuttiness. I don't really care about the whole big dramatic gesture type thing. Like horse-drawn carriages by moonlight? Nah."

So he had some idea of what she might like. He was taking the day off of work to set everything up for when she came home at five.

The next day Darcy was surprised at work by a box of chocolates delivered to her at lunch. She smiled what she was sure must be a really sappy smile, but she couldn't help it. She hadn't really been expecting anything, and she wouldn't have been upset if he hadn't done anything. But that was so Loki- doing nice, sweet things that he didn't need to. The rest of the day couldn't go by fast enough for her. She wanted to get home and show Loki how much she appreciated it.

Back at the apartment, Loki was just setting the final touches. He had taped fairy-lights all over the walls, because she loved them and had remarked once how cool it would be to live in a house with a bunch of them. He'd made her favorite foods- Jalapeno poppers, macaroni and cheese, and apple pie. There was chilled Cream Soda in the fridge- their preferred alcohol-equivalent. And he'd cleaned the whole house, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping...

He heard her come up the stairs and he flicked the overhead lights off, and with it being dark outside already because of the short winter days, the warm glow of the fairy-lights were all that lit the place. He had to admit- the effect was stunning.

Darcy opened the door, saying, "Loki, baby- I got the chocolates. Thank you so-" And then she noticed the lights. "Oh. My. God," she breathed, her eyes getting misty.

Putting her purse down, she walked over to him and kissed him. Leaning back, she tilted her head to the side."Is that apple pie?"

"Yeah, I know it's your favorite, so I made some."

Darcy's eyes got very soft and she had to blink back tears at that. He was just so sweet.

Loki was a little bit nervous about the next part of his plan, but...oh god. He'd just do it. He didn't know what he was so afraid of, anyways.

He stared down at her, taking in just how lovely and incredible she was. Her hair pulled up in a ponytail, her eyes wide and soft, her lips red from kissing him-

"Darcy," he said, more serious than he'd ever been. "I love you. I appreciate you." He traced a finger along her jaw. "Happy Valentines day."

Darcy's mouth fell open, and she tried to respond but couldn't find whole sentences at first.

"I-you-oh my god, you-I can't-" She blinked hard. "You are the most amazing man, Loki Laufeyson. I can't even. I mean, you are just...you're just...I love you too."

His heart felt so full at that moment. Everything in the world was perfect. He'd been planning on waiting a bit longer before they ended up having sex, and he'd thought maybe they'd start in the bed, but no, the wall was just as good a place as any, he decided as they put it to use...

Lying in bed a couple hours later, Darcy lay with her head on his chest, one leg draped over his.

"I have a request," she said.

"What?"

"You know that book I've been reading?"

"Yes," Loki chuckled. "You're a very loud reader."

"Well I can't help it!" Darcy cried exasperatedly. "If things are cute I'm gonna say 'aww' and if they're strange then I'm gonna be like 'well wtf is going on oh Jesus Christ,' and if things are sad then I'm gonna start crying...But anyways. Can you read it to me? Your voice is just sooo good, and I'd reeeeally like it..."

Loki shook his head at what he was about to do, but held out a hand for the book.

"Oh yay!" Darcy said with excitement, grabbing it from the nightstand. "Thank you, Loki!"

Loki opened Fifty Shades of Grey to the bookmarked page and began reading.

He stopped two minutes later to stare at Darcy, who was giggling uncontrollably.

"Are you even paying attention?" he asked.

"I-oh my god- I- YES I'm paying attention, I just can't-" and she started giggling again.

"It's a very interesting book," Loki remarked.

"Mmhmm," Darcy managed through her laughter.

"And it gives me a few ideas," he said, a smile curving his lips. He'd read less than a page and it was already the most ridiculous thing he'd ever read.

Darcy's mouth fell open. "Really?"

"Yes," he said, and showed her.

They did eventually eat their food, but it was much later, and much less clothed than originally planned.