I don't own Loki and the Avengers. This chapter's theme song is "You're So Real" by Matchbox 20.
Chapter 31: Good Graces
Thor hesitated before the door. For all of Loki's assurances that he meant Jane no harm, he was still nervous. He looked down at her. It made him uncomfortable to put her in danger, even if that danger was imagined.
She smiled, understanding, and put a hand on his arm. "Don't worry so much. I'm sure it will be fine, and anyway, you're here to protect us."
"Yeah, man, just open the stupid door," Darcy rolled her eyes behind them.
With a sigh, he did, taking a few cautious steps in. "Loki?" he called.
After a moment Loki stepped out of his bedroom, made curious by Thor's cautious tone. He was dressed casually, in a green T-shirt and black jeans. Realization washed over his expression as he saw Jane half-hidden by Thor's bulk.
"Ah, Lady Jane," he came forward, smiling, and took her hand to kiss it briefly. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."
Jane looked amused. "Is it?"
He returned the expression. "Of course. And I would like to apologize for the behavior that my... counterpart has shown you."
Jane smiled, embarrassed. "Oh, it's okay..." she demurred.
"It most certainly is not. But as long as you are here, you make Thor happy. And whatever Her intentions, she is too good by half to ruin that. I suspect it will be the death of her," he joked.
She was surprised by his frank, open manner. Thor had led her to believe that Loki was not to be trusted. "We're friends then?" she asked.
Loki was momentarily taken aback, that she would so eagerly count him as a friend. He smoothed it over with a smile, spreading his open hands. "We are allies, which can be a good deal more effective."
Jane laughed, and moved past him, dragging a bemused Thor with her and clearing out the door for Darcy to step in.
"And Lady Darcy," Loki gave a more genuine smile. "I am certainly pleased to see you again, your presence makes these lovebirds far more tolerable."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not gonna kiss my hand?"
He laughed, but snatched up her hand and kissed it, his eyes sparkling.
Darcy was speechless for a moment, which was something of a shock even to her. "Are all the guys from Asgard this shmoozy?" she asked Thor as she came into the living room.
Thor laughed at her made-up word and sat on the couch. "No, Darcy. A family resemblance, perhaps."
Darcy looked between them. "Resemblance my butt. I don't know how you guys ever thought you were brothers, you don't look anything alike," she said as she came into the living room. "I mean, he's all tall, dark and broody," she gestured to Loki, "And you're the knight in shining armor with sunshine and puppies and shit," she joked.
They laughed, and Loki crossed his arms and gave her an appraising leer. "You like men who brood?" he asked, curious.
She laughed. "Thanks, but no thanks, I don't think I could ever date a guy who was prettier than me," she sniffed.
Jane grinned. "Darcy just wants a guy who will let her blab all day," she teased.
Loki pretended to think about that seriously. "Hmm, no, I don't think that would work. I suppose I prefer the brooding type as well," he played along.
"Especially red-headed spies?" Thor teased.
"Quite," Loki agreed. "Which reminds me, I'm afraid I must go, I have an engagement with said spy."
"Ooh, a date?" Darcy asked, flopping down on the couch next to Jane.
He chuckled darkly. "Rather too dysfunctional for that, I fear. We're sparring."
Darcy shrugged. "You get sweaty and out of breath and roll around on the floor, it's not that different." She grinned.
He lifted an eyebrow. "Well, when you put it that way..."
"Will you be back later?" Jane asked solicitously, trying to change the subject.
"Alas, no," he clasped his hands behind his back. "I am afraid we must be as ships passing in the night, for now. It is the end of my week, and it will be Her turn to keep you company," he apologized.
Jane gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well, we'll see you in a week then."
"I shall look forward to it, Lady Jane, Lady Darcy," he sketched them each a quick bow, nodded to Thor, and then left.
Jane stared after him, surprise written on her face. "I think I like him," she admitted.
Darcy snorted, picking up the TV remote and turning it on. "I know I like him. He's funny." And I don't feel like the third wheel when he's here, she added silently, eyeing Thor and Jane warily. They had that look, like they were gonna make out. She sighed, and began flipping through the channels.
An hour later, Loki mused that despite Darcy's comparison, he might have enjoyed the sparring session more in his female form. Natasha took his superior strength as an excuse to not pull any of her punches. Or kicks. Or anything. It seemed that she was determined to show him exactly what she was capable of- and he had to admit he was impressed.
So it was that when she managed to get him into a triangle choke he took a moment to catch his breath. She wasn't quite strong enough to cut off his air supply, but he wasn't going to let her know it.
"What's wrong?" she said teasingly, "Don't know how to break it?"
"Hm? Oh, no, I just rather like it here," he joked back, out of breath. "In fact..." he reached around her thigh, his hand drifting dangerously close to...
Before he could blink, Natasha was on the other side of the mat. He glanced up to see that she looked very angry. "What? A good fighter uses all of the weapons at his disposal," he argued. For her to disagree would be highly hypocritical.
"Do you even know the definition of sexual harassment?" she demanded. He opened his mouth to reply but she continued on. "You should look it up, I'm pretty sure your picture's on the Wikipedia page." She stormed off to grab a towel.
Loki sat up, running a hand through his hair. "You wound me, Natasha. I merely thought that since the cat's out of the bag, as they say, I should pay you the respect of pursuing you in earnest."
Natasha sighed and sat down on a bench. That would certainly explain his behavior since the job in Poland. He had been solicitous and salacious by turns, and the unpredictability of his behavior made her head hurt. "Well then why can't you be more conventional about it?" she said, exasperated.
He laughed. "I am many things, little spider, but conventional is not one of them. What would you have me do? Buy you flowers and chocolates?"
She gave him a sarcastic glare. He looked so confident, sprawled out on the training mat, leaning back on his hands.
"How about poetry then? Shall I quote Shakespeare to you?" before she could object, he launched into a sonnet.
"That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long."
He recited the lines like an actor on the stage, his voice rising and falling in an entrancing rhythm.
She was silent for a few moments after, considering the words. "An odd choice for an immortal," she murmured.
He shrugged, and smiled sadly. "Just because I do not age does not mean I can't appreciate the beauty in the transience of this mortal world," he argued. "If anything, I appreciate it all the more, in contrast to myself and my... where I come from."
Natasha remembered what Thor had said about Loki's visits to Earth. She also noticed that he had almost referred to Asgard as his home. "I thought you said you couldn't memorize anything," she pointed out.
"Nothing complicated," he clarified, standing. "Sonnets are highly formulaic. If you know the format, it's not hard to remember specific permutations. Now, something like The Raven, where every stanza ends with the same word, that is now beyond my ability."
She smiled wryly "I should have known you'd like Poe."
He laughed a little and sat on the bench next to her. They were quiet a moment. "I am sorry," he said at last.
"Hm?" she frowned at him.
He looked pained, before turning his face away from her. "I should not have... touched you, without your permission."
She stared at him in disbelief so long that he turned back. He smiled self-depreciatingly. "Dr. Bryardie explained that I need to learn to respect boundaries. Especially with you."
"Why me?" she asked, suspicious.
Loki licked his lips, and for a brief moment he seemed very vulnerable to her. She was reminded of her dream, of Kai, the little frozen boy with a broken heart. But then a wall seemed to come up between them, and he laughed it off. "Because you are friends with Her, and it would be unkind of me to ruin that."
She wasn't completely convinced. She guessed there was another reason, one he didn't want her to know, but she didn't push.
"That reminds me," he sighed. "I should go."
She looked him over—the sparring session had clearly been a real workout for him. "Shouldn't you get cleaned up first?"
He laughed. "Oh, She can manage that much better than I," he glanced down at his hands, wishing for perhaps the thousandth time that he still had his magic.
"I have to admit, I'm impressed that you're even willing to share time with her," she said.
He smiled ruefully. "She has her uses, although I cannot imagine anyone I should like less running my life."
Natasha began to respond, but shut her mouth on the comment when Femme Loki appeared before her. She stood up looked around rapidly, alarmed.
"Where are we? The killers-" she stuttered, confused.
Natasha realized that the last moment Femme Loki would have remembered was in Poland. "Hey, it's okay," she took hold of Loki's arms to calm her. "We're in New York, and the serial killers are in prison in Poland."
Loki calmed down slowly. "I don't think we should switch during missions anymore," she said absently, looking down at herself. "Why am I all sweaty?" she plucked at the green T-shirt.
"Sparring," she explained. "He said you could take care of it."
Loki rolled her eyes and then swiped a hand over herself. She glowed faintly and then her clothes—now clean—fit much better. She felt her pockets until she found the note He had left her. It was three pages long. She sighed heavily and sat back down.
"I'm going to go clean up," Natasha said, leaving Loki to read.
When she came back, Loki was still scowling down at the note, with the walking stick she had made resting against the bench.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Loki sighed. "Jane is back," she explained, "And he says that if he has to behave around you, then I have to behave around her."
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't exactly say he's been behaving," she argued.
She looked up, horrified. "What did he do?"
Her response made Natasha pause. It was true that Loki had been annoying, but compared to how he had once been, his actions had been fairly harmless. "Oh, nothing, really. Hitting on me, I guess, in his own twisted way."
Loki frowned. "Oh. Like what?"
She turned away, stowing her shower stuff in her gear bag. "He has personal space issues," she said, keeping her tone light. "But he apologized for it, so it's okay I guess." She glanced back to give her a reassuring smile.
Instead, Loki was once again taken aback. If anything, her eyes were wider. "He apologized to you?"
"Yeah...?" she tried not to sound too confused.
"Natasha, He doesn't apologize to anybody. Not for anything He does, anyway. Lots of apologizing for Thor, but seriously, did the words 'I'm sorry' actually leave his mouth? Because I think that's part of the whole starting Ragnarok thing he's supposed to do," she said incredulously.
She laughed. "What's with the stick?" she gestured to the concealed naginata.
Loki glanced at it. "Oh, I vanished it in Poland. Apparently I'm not supposed to vanish his things, since he can't access them." She rolled her eyes. "Hey listen, I was hoping we could maybe do something fun this weekend," she suggested.
"To get away from Jane?" Natasha teased.
She passed a hand through her hair, a gesture that reminded Natasha very much of the other Loki. "No, actually, I didn't even know she was coming back. It's just, I've been here for two months and I haven't really seen much of the city. I mean, aside from the bits I'm fixing," she laughed.
"Well, what kinds of things would you like to do?"
Loki shrugged. "I don't know, maybe go to an art museum, or a show or something, get some food somewhere, you know. Just hang out."
Natasha thought about it. If it had been the other Loki asking, it would have been an obvious ploy for a date. But with her... Maybe she was over-thinking it. "Okay, sure. I have Saturday off. We can go then."
"Great!" Loki grinned, and picking up the walking stick, made to leave.
Natasha watched her go with a small frown. Why couldn't she shake the feeling that this was, in fact, going to be a date?
A/N: First, a couple of credits. The "allies are more effective than friends" line is from the first episode of Downton Abbey, specifically Maggie Smith's character Violet. I love her. Secondly, the sexual-harassment-while-in-a-choke-hold idea is from Miss Congeniality. I could not resist using either here. The sonnet is Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, my favorite.
For those of you who love Loki's dark aspect (and I am among them) do not fret that he's gone soft. I think the movie Thor demonstrates very well that Loki can be polite and friendly when it suits his purposes. It makes him unpredictable, which is always fun. He's a very layered character, and he plays a deep game. I promise as soon as he gets back he'll be up to no good again.
But first, on Saturday, Natasha goes out with Femme Loki on what may or may not be a date in Chapter 32: Night on the Town.
