Loki couldn't sleep. He paced his room, with his hands gripped at his sides, his anxiety building, though he couldn't quite pinpoint its source. He walked to his door just as someone on the other side knocked loudly.

"Loki!" Thor yelled as he knocked.
"What is it?" Loki swung open the door to find Thor dressed in street clothes.
"Jean is not in her room. She left a note..", his face grim as he handed it to Loki. It said, Gone Dancing...

"I'll get dressed."

Once he was dressed they hurried out to the waiting car, where Steve and Tony were waiting with Jane. Tony was trying to calm everyone..."We go in soft...real casual, as if we are just there to join them."
"Them?" Loki asked.

Jane glanced at Thor sheepishly before turning to Loki. "Yeah, Darcy mentioned something about going dancing but I wasn't paying attention. We are assuming that they are together."
"Where?"
"That bar we go to sometimes downtown, they have a dj on the weekends...dance 's our best bet." Loki noticed that Jane was wearing a skirt and a sheer sleeveless top. Thor noticed his gaze and his hand went protectively around her shoulder. He smirked at his brother. "If you are so worried that men will look at her, why don't you have her wear something a little more discreet."
"Hey! There is nothing indiscreet about my outfit! This is what you wear to a club." Jane huffed, and then an evil little smile took over her face.
"Just wait until you see what the girls are probably wearing."
Loki glared at her, but stopped his teasing. He suddenly became very interested in the scenery outside the car. Thor couldn't help but smirk at Jane.

When they pulled up, there was a line outside of the bar. He didn't bother to wait for the others, making his way to the door and straight past the line.
"Whoa buddy, there's a line here..."
"Not for me...nor any of my friends" Loki said, slipping money into the bouncer's hand as the rest of the group caught up to him. He could hear the loud pulse of music thrumming from the building, the flashing lights cutting through the otherwise darkened club. He then walked right past the man, amid some disgruntled protests from the people in line. Jane couldn't help saying a quick, "Sorry!" as they went in.

The club was filled with people, music and motion. It was a confusing blur. Loki soon realized that Jane was in fact dressed very discreetly compared to how the other women around him were dressed. Suddenly, a glint of metal distracted his gaze to the far corner of the dance floor. He saw her and stilled. She was wearing a dark silvery top that was shaped like an inverted triangle, the sides of her torso exposed. It wrapped up over her neck in a halter strap, and clung to her body with the thinest of straps behind her back. He back was almost completely black pants that she was wearing were skin tight through the hips, flaring out below her, knees. Her hair was pulled back at the top, but then came over her shoulders in the form of two long braids. Every movement of her body seemed to draw him in.

Jane looked around at the men in her group with growing alarm. They seemed to be in some sort of haze, even Thor. She snapped her fingers in front of his face, and he didn't even blink. He gaze was intent on the back of the room. She looked past Loki to the corner of the room and her jaw dropped. There was Jean and Darcy, surrounded by a harem of men, all dancing to the pulsing music. The girls were soaking up the attention being paid to them. Darcy, for her part, was stuffed into a short red dress with her hair loose and curly. Jean was dancing very closely to a tall, dark haired man in a button down shirt and slacks, while Darcy had a ring of men all vying for her attention. All the men had the same dazed look on their faces. Jean suddenly noticed that they were no longer alone. She caught Jane's eye and smiled a toothy smile as she threw her head back and twirled around.

"Thor...Thor! Wake up!" Jane decided to try a different tack.
"Hey Steve, there she is..."
"Yes, there she is...she smells like apples..."
"No no no, snap out of it!" Jane tugged at his arm, but he kept walking straight through the room towards Darcy and Jean.
"Really?!" She exclaimed. Then she had a idea. She walked over to Loki and whispered in his ear. He merely nodded distractedly and kept staring at Jean like she was a porterhouse steak. Left with no other option, Jane promptly grabbed the drink of the person nearest to her and splashed it in his face.

Loki's face and hair was suddenly drenched in alcohol and he reared back, grabbing Jane's wrist.

"What the hell was that for!?"
"I had to wake you up somehow...she's got some sort of spell over the men in this club."
He scoffed at Jane. "That may be, but I am not under any spell, you foolish girl."
"Well, you couldn't keep your eyes off her!"

He wiped his face and smoothed his hair before turning and looking at Jean. Sure enough, he felt a compulsion emanating from her like a warm wave. Embarrassed by the possibility that he himself had been vulnerable enough to get caught up, he grimaced. "Jane, go wake up the rest of our group and get Darcy out of here. If Jean won't come quietly, I'm going to need their assistance."

Loki approached Jean slowly, with his hands out at his sides in a placating gesture. She eyed him with amusement, noticing the clarity of his gaze.

She shrugged at the disgusted looks he gave the men dancing around her. He looked particularly displeased with the man behind her, a hairs breath from touching her. Her mouth quirked up and she suddenly dipped her body by bending her knees, ever so slightly pressing against the man behind her, as she continued to sway to the beat.

Loki almost closed his eyes for a moment to contain his temper, but refrained, knowing that she was taunting him on purpose, trying to get a reaction. She then snaked an arm backwards to pull the man closer to her, winding it behind his neck and into his hair. The poor sod was eating it up, and went to circle her hips with his hands. And suddenly felt his arm gripped, painfully, as Loki stopped the descent of his hand. The young man backed off immediately at the look on Loki's face, as Jean turned and gave him a little wave and a shrug, dismissing him before Loki could harm him. Loki could see that the team had all moved in a circle around them, as far in as was possible considering that most of the men in the club had migrated into a tight circle around the girls.

"That's quite enough of that I think...don't you Jean?"
"I was just having a bit of fun..." Jean said, practically pouting. Loki fought to keep his face blank, but the corner of his mouth nearly quirked up in a smile.
"Stop the compulsion Jean, it's beneath you. You hardly need any help attracting men."
"Oh, but the compulsion wasn't for me..it was for Darcy. But I suppose it's not very nice in any case..." She then shut her eyes, breathing in deeply in concentration. Suddenly, the man that had been dancing with Darcy stopped in his tracks and shook his head. He looked down at her, a bit confused, but then continued dancing with her, giving her a uneasy smile. The large group of men that had formed around them suddenly thinned out as they wandered away, leaving their small group in the corner of the club.

Loki was more confused than ever. He looked over at Jane, who smiled knowingly. "Hmm, guess you were right Loki...you weren't under THAT spell, my mistake." Loki scoffed at her. Thor gave her a strange look and started to question her. He was met with a elbow in the ribs, "I'll explain later Romeo..." Thor didn't know what was going on but he seemed to know that he was in trouble.

Loki kept his eyes trained on Jean, trying to determine the best way to get her to leave without making a mess.

"Oh, I have no intention of causing a fuss...I just wanted a drink and a dance, maybe a kiss..." She said softly, reading him and looking up into his dark eyes, her eyelashes fluttering as she smiled. "Not many can snatch my thoughts right out of my head. Perhaps all this awful noise has me too distracted." He said coldly, ignoring her subtle come-on.

Steve and Tony finally decided they had enough and pushed up closer to them.
Tony held out a hand to her, "Well, I think we should probably call it a night, don't you agree?" "Sure thing Tony...come on Darcy, our ride is here." Jean said as she tapped Darcy on the shoulder, her eyes never leaving Loki's. She then accepted Tony's hand and slid past Loki's body without a backward glance. He stood staring at nothing for a moment and then his eyes caught sight of the man who Jean had been dancing with glaring at him from the corner of the room as he talked to his friends.

Loki felt a hand press on his shoulder and turned to see Steve giving him a look of appraisal, quirking his eyebrows up. "Not worth it." Steve said very softly. And Loki gave him a smile full of mirth, a bit chagrined by his own childish impulse to throw the man into a wall for the crime of having danced so intimately with Jean. "Indeed."

Loki was quietly steaming in the passenger seat of the SUV, as everyone else chatted away as if everything was normal. As though they were returning from a casual night out on the town. Jean hadn't said another word to him since they left the club, and had not even looked at him when he held the door open to let her into the truck. Steve pulled the truck up to the gate house and caught Loki's eye, concerned. He shook his head at Loki, as if to say, please let it go.

But Loki couldn't let it go. For all of the smug and presumptuous looks from Tony and Thor, and the teasing from Jane...he knew they were right. He was angry at them, but he was furious with himself. He was acting differently around Jean, and compulsion or not, he was drawn to her. He craved her, and it was only getting worse. He felt a thick streak of true jealousy course through him when she was speaking to the wolverine in the interrogation room. His stomach had turned when she had referred to Logan as her former lover. And then, in the club, that man had touched Jean and it was his pride alone that stopped him from pummeling the man into the sticky floor. That and the Allfather's magical muzzle.

He looked at her in the rear view mirror, barely able to discern the curve of her neck and the flash of her cleavage in the shadows being thrown by the ambient light. He had to have her. And then suddenly, something akin to a bell rung in his head. That was it...he would have her! He would satiate himself in her flesh and then he would be done with this torture, this maddening temptation. He would feel her writhe underneath his touch and make her beg him for pleasure, and then when he was done with her, he would be able to walk away from her at last. He turned around in his seat to face her then, his smile feral. If he had been thinking clearly, he would have noticed that she was looking right back at him with the same smile on her face.