She released her mental hold and Loki smiled relieved at the feeling of having a body again. Immediately he went to search the racks for clothing that fitted his idea. In the back of his mind he heard Lori comment.
"Nothing too revealing, no skirts or dresses, nothing too tight, nothing that shows my arms… Do they sell burqas here too?"
Loki ignored her and proceeded to go through the clothes. If anything, thanks to Dr Trachtenberg he had a pretty good idea of Lori's sizes. He heard her wince when he took a pair of black leather pants from the rack.
"I'm NOT wearing that!"
"You are if I want you to."
"You still have to explain what clothes have to do with revenge."
Loki grinned as he gathered a few other pieces of clothing.
"These are not clothes, little mortal… They are armour."
"What the fuck? And stop calling me that!"
"You'll soon enough understand. Now, what size are your breasts?"
"That is of NO concern to you!"
"Fine."
And to Lori's horror, Loki just grabbed her boobs and squeezed them.
"I would estimate this to be at least a C-cup, definitely not a B like you're wearing."
"Oh no. No way. I'm not letting you buy me underwear."
"You are, because you allowed me to do the shopping, and your womanly bits are suffering from your choices in clothing."
Annoyed and at loss of what to say, Lori exclaimed.
"You're SO gay!"
"That is of no concern to you. Now let's go find the lingerie department."
Loki knew no shame, Lori realized. Loki Laufeyson was one of those people who could be caught naked in a grocery store and still walk out without a trace of discomfort. Possibly even while shoplifting a can of tuna. When the god held up a barely-there scanty garment of black lace and green satin she winced.
"Loki… Put that down, turn around, and leave this department!"
"You're so going to try this on."
"Great. And then I'll end up on or 9Gag, with a caption like "Shrek Meets Cinderella" or something. No, worse, "Shrek meets Porn". All because I'm fat and all people have smartphones and you are the least subtle lingerie shopper ever!"
"I have no clue what you're talking about."
Loki grinned and took his loot with him to the fitting rooms. Much to Lori's horror it were fitting rooms without mirrors. There was a huge mirror in the central space between the rooms, but none inside them…
When Loki started undressing her body, she felt giddy. Because she had no control it felt as if a stranger was undressing her, and it made her highly self-conscious.
"Don't touch my boobs."
"You are protective of these, aren't you? Although I must say you take bad care of something you are so protective of…" Loki got rid of the bra, making Lori's C-cup bulge out in full glory. He held up the small bra.
"Why do you even wear something so constricting?"
Loki sounded honestly surprised, because from the red lines on Lori's shoulders and breasts he could tell the bra was really way too small… Lori sighed.
"Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to ask my dad for larger clothes every so often? I only order things online, and never underwear, that I get in the supermarket. Besides, if a girl like me flaunts her boobs it looks as if I don't know I'm fat and ugly, and then people will say I'm trying too hard."
Loki shook his head.
"That's just…"
"Stupid? Easy for you to say, you're… let's think, a male, a god, an alien, and freaking handsome! This is about as far from your bed as it gets!"
"Unfortunately not, since we happen to share a bed these days."
"God that sounds so wrong. Never point that out again, will you?"
Loki put on the new bra, and Lori had to admit it was a thousand times more comfortable than her old one, not to mention way prettier. Then she got to see Loki's other finds…
"Leather, leather, green, green, black, gold, green… What do you think I am, a Christmas tree? I'm not wearing that!"
"Yes you are."
And since Loki was in control, Lori got to wear the leather pants, in combination with a black top and a golden mesh jumper.
"I look stupid."
"We'll see."
"It's tight black leather, glittery gold, and my arms are bare. It's everything I'm never ever going to wear so what's the use?"
Loki pulled away the fitting room curtain, showing the both of them in the huge mirror. Lori's red became bright red in embarrassment when she caught sight of the leather accentuating her thighs and the golden mesh making her already impressive décolletage look even huger.
"Pull. That. Curtain. Back. NOW!"
Loki admitted that it hadn't been the best choice for Lori. She wasn't confident enough to get away with it… The next outfit was an emerald wrap dress. Loki had faith in it that this garment would suit Lori's curvaceous figure… He almost bit his tongue when he caught himself thinking of Lori as "curvaceous" rather than fat. She was fat, fat, fat; he had to remember that. He put on the dress, shook up "his" boobs, threw his hair loose, and pushed back the curtain again. This time, no immediate comment from Lori resounded. The dress gave Lori almost an hourglass figure, and the plunging neckline definitely did wonders too. The girl was shocked into silence. Loki interpreted the silence as approval.
"I take it that you finally respect my decisions."
To his surprise Lori uttered, sounding sad.
"This dress is not possible."
"How so?"
"If I wear this to school… I can already hear them call me a fat whore."
"They have never gone so far in their insults towards you in the past few weeks."
"That's only because I never gave rise to it. If I were to dress provocative they sure would."
Loki shook his head and sat down on the little chair in the fitting room, atop of a clothes pile. He had no idea why he felt compelled to explain what he was thinking, but since he had gone in so deep already, he could better go all the way.
"Clothes, Lori, clothes are more than just coverage. You use them to cover your skin and hide your fat, but they have much more use. Clothing is armour. When you dress like nothing can touch you and nothing can ridicule you… That's like a protective layer around your mind, and it radiates off you, stopping people from insulting you. When you look strong, you are strong."
Lori thought about this. She recalled Loki's helmet, and remarked.
"Does that mean you wear that silly helmet to stop people from ridiculing you?"
Loki sighed and admitted honestly.
"Well, yes. You are the first person it doesn't work on. You and Anthony Stark."
Lori giggled.
"I feel flattered… you compared me to Ironman, of all people…"
"You two can match in obnoxiousness."
Lori thought a little deeper, and ran her hand over the soft fabric of the wrap dress.
"So what you're saying is… this dress is to me what your helmet is to you?"
"Something like that, yes."
They ended up buying the dress, and the bra, and a couple more things Loki picked out for Lori. Thanks to Mr Lauritsen's royal refill of Lori's bank account that posed no problem. Loki felt… bizarrely content. He decided to put it on the fact he had had a body for so long.
(Pagebreak)
"Loki…"
They were lying in Lori's bed, and Loki had given the controls back to the body's "rightful owner"… when Lori suddenly addressed him.
"Loki, are you awake?"
"Yes."
He replied gruffly.
"What is it, Mortal?"
Lori was silent. Then she sighed and said.
"Oh, nothing Puny. Just… Are you going to be all distant and I-can't-stand-you tomorrow?"
"Huh?"
"Every time you do something that makes you look like less of a jerk you make up for it the next day by being extra mean. I just wanted to know in advance, so I could prepare myself, you know."
Loki didn't answer. It was true that every time he had made the mistake of coming too close to the mortal he had retreated as soon as he realized it… Only he hadn't realized Lori had noticed this. Why did he even care?
"I just want you to know that, just in case you're going back to be the almighty Asshole of Asshole Garden tomorrow, you were sort of nice today. Not nice-nice, just… not as completely obnoxious as most of the time. I liked it. Not that that means anything, but… I did. Thanks for the dressing advice too."
Loki didn't know what to say. He eventually replied dismissively.
"Oh go to sleep already."
While Lori slept, he lay awake. It was true that he didn't despise the mortal as much as he used to anymore. Lori Lauritsen was bigmouthed, fat and ashamed of herself, and she had a serious case of low self-esteem and a whole lot of ridiculous teenage family drama going on… but in the time he had spent in the girl's head, Loki had found she was intelligent, kind-hearted, and genuinely funny too. He didn't want to like her, because she was to serve as his involuntary prison guard, but he couldn't hate her anymore either.
It was a confusing situation, and when he finally fell asleep he dreamed of chocolate cake and leather pants and his mother. It was a nice dream, the first nice dream he had in ages…
(Author's Notes)
A quick update, for all my lovely reviewers! I adore you guys, know that? Cookies for AvengersGirl-LokisSpy, Ryle Culler, The13thGirlWithoutASoul, Dark Rabbit, TheSillyKitten, Dreewodx, and a whole bunch of guests who I can't thank in person but whom I definitely appreciate.
Lori and Loki go clothes shopping, and we learn the secret of Loki's helmet... Mwhuhahahaaah. Loki's being uncharacteristically nice, I know, and Lori knows what usually follows is icy silence and insults, so she warns him.
PLEASE REVIEW! Your reviews bring Loki good dreams! (and damn, you all know he needs those...)
