I know, I know, I promised two chapters but I've had a really rough stressful week...finishing this chapter was like crawling through broken glass. I'm sorry to sound so grumpy, I don't mean to be. I am trying to pick up my mood and work ethic so cross my heart that the next upload will be two chapters instead of one. Besides it would be cruel to leave you hanging at the end of the next chapter anyways. ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel Universe

Warning: Language

(Amora's a crazy bitch...just saying)

Comments/critiques welcomed!

It was raining.

Loki was fond of the rain but this was an autumn rain. It was cold and damp and clung to your skin like a thin sheet of ice but Loki was used to being cold, he'd be cold if it was a thunderstorm in the middle of July despite his wool sweater and jeans. The only reason he was out in the rain was because he'd stormed out before Thor had a chance to get downstairs. He was sick of everyone—especially his "parents"—involving themselves in his business. So a few videos were floating around, he was being harassed at school, but it wasn't anything he didn't expect to happen and he'd dug his own grave, he could dig himself back out. As long as things didn't get physical Loki didn't have to worry about Thor getting involved or…Darcy. That was the last thing he wanted. He could sense her starting to break down already and he knew it was partially his fault; doing the meth at the party was stupid, he knew that, but when a free hit is offered up on a $1000 solid oak desk—who could refuse an offer like that? Loki kicks at a puddle. The least he could do was set Darcy up with Steve, that would take her mind of things, but Steve…Loki couldn't get a read on him, he wasn't good with people who had a solid positive vibe. Fucking Steve Rogers was practically perfect in every way and he was sure Julie Andrews would agree with him.

A car pulls up beside him, radio blaring inside; it takes Loki a moment before he recognizes the car, the driver already rolling down the window.

"What do you want, Amora?"

She flips her blonde hair back, running a hand through it as she looks him over. He was sure that compared to her prep school uniform and the fact that he was drenched he looked rather like a wet cat. Amora smirks at him. The gold hoops in her ears dangle against her neck and Loki's sure she's wearing more makeup than is allowed in Catholic school. "Need a ride?" her voice is what tends to draw people in. It's sweet and smooth but there's a hidden edge to it that most don't pick up on until it's too late.

Loki scowls at her, it suddenly starting to rain harder…he was sure it was her fault. "I'd rather shit first and die." He keeps walking, slowly, and Amora pulls the car along with him.

"Awww…c'mon, boo-boo," she coos. "I don't bite…hard." Amora always reminded him of a Venus flytrap; instead of eating flies she ate men…both literally and figuratively, and yet somehow Thor had survived. He checks his phone and sighs—he was already late. He'd been walking aimlessly and lost track of time. Loki climbs in the car and scowls at her when she gives him a smug look. Amora pulls away from the curb, her acrylic nails clicking against the wheel. "So…what's up, buttercup? Heard you were back in the in-sti-tu-tion." She grins.

"Fuck you."

Amora rolls her eyes and smiles. "Hostile—always hostile—and I'm not so sure you have time for us to fool around, baby, aren't you late for school?"

"Aren't you?"

They share a mutual look, Amora still giving him her conceited smirk. He hated her. And it wasn't just that he hated her…they were equals. Granted Loki's levels of intelligence were much higher than hers but they both knew that deep down they were wicked people it was just that Amora tended to nurse her psychotic intentions more than Loki. She would squeeze the people she manipulated until there was nothing left in them but an empty shell of who they once were. Thor was lucky. He became immune to her long before she strangled the life out of him like the snake that she was. Loki on the other hand, well, Amora was one of the reasons he didn't trust women anymore.

"So what exactly were you doing walking around in the rain?" Amora skillfully pulls a cigarette out and lights it without swerving. "You'll catch a cold, princess, wouldn't want that." She holds the pack out to him.

Loki accepts. "Fighting." He lights it and takes a drag, cracking the window just slightly.

She nods, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. "Would have never guessed you'd end up back in school…your parents really laying down the law, huh? Did you not get a choice as to which school you could go to?"

"As if I'd choose to go to the same school as you…"

"Or Sigyn?" He turns away from her and she smiles. Amora pulls into the school lot and pulls around to the front door, parking the car. Loki continues to smoke his cigarette. "How's Thor?"

"None of your business, bitch," he sneers through his teeth. "Too bad one of your boy toys slipped through your slimy little fingers, eh? Speaking of which—how's the new one holding up? Does he give you a good fucking?" Amora laughs, flipping her hair back. She blows smoke out of her nose and runs a hand over her scalp.

"I don't sleep with him…I keep him around as incentive for getting what I want." She reaches over to push his hair to the side, playing with it a bit. "And what about your girly, hmm? How is the little mouse?"

He sighs, pushing her hand away. "Darcy is fine."

Amora looks him over and snorts a cloud of smoke into his face, watching him squint. She scowls. "You look like shit. You look like a drowned rat, a mutt thrown onto the streets. How does it feel to be weak, Loki, I'm curious?"

"What do you want from me?"

"To gloat, obviously, what else?" she reapplies her lipstick. "Look, precious…you're washed up, okay? You let emotions get the best of you, you don't take charge, you don't leave people crushed anymore. It's pathetic." Amora opens a window and flicks her cigarette out. Loki figured she'd shown up for a reason. The road he was walking on was nowhere near her route to school. Gloating was beneath her though…and if she was trying to egg him on, it wouldn't work. He had a short temper like Thor but controlled it much better. Few things made him rage out. What Amora could gain from pushing him over the edge he wasn't sure, but he'd have to look into it. "I never thought I'd see the day when Loki Laufeyson would let everyone walk all over him. Your parents have you on a leash, people in school are treating you like the little bitch that you are, you can't keep a man—how does it feel Loki, to know your ex has boned just about everyone except you? Though I must say you never sleeping with Stark has kept up his libido for everyone else."

"Well I'm so glad Stark's emotional, mental, and physical disregard for my personal being is pleasing someone."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. Now you can give your v-card to someone else!" Amora looks into the rearview mirror, fluffs her hair and pops her lips together, not bothering to look back towards him. "Get out of my car, you're making me later than I already am." Loki sighs and steps out of the car, back into the torrential downpour of rain. He slams the door for good measure. She rolls down her window, leaning towards him as if she had something important to say. "Hey, there's a party in the city this weekend…you should come. You can bring your gal pal."

Loki shoves his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, I would, except Darcy has a condition where she can't be around total bitches." Amora rolls her eyes and mouths 'whatever.' She skids her wheels against the asphalt, splashing water up onto him as she speeds out of the parking lot. "Bitch," he mumbles, spitting his cigarette to the ground and crushing it.

"Where were you all morning? I was getting worried." Darcy hands Loki half her sandwich. He picks at it, slowly, pulling out a majority of the meat and setting it in front of her. She rolls her eyes.

Steve joins them at their table, looking Loki over and giving him a small smile.

"Doesn't matter—why are we all in our study halls again?"

"Part of the cafeteria got a leak and they don't want anyone getting sick—and yet Ms. Hill still made us go outside for P.E.…stupid bitch…" Darcy grumbles, stuffing Loki's unwanted meat into her sandwich. "Is there a point to physical education other than pinning students against one another?"

Loki snorts. "I'm sure it's just to make you run."

"Aren't you cold?" Steve furrows his brow. Loki was shivering slightly but his body was so accustomed to low temperatures that they usually didn't bother him. In short, yes, Loki was cold, but he had no intentions of admitting such a thing. He still didn't entirely trust Steve. Sure, Rogers had Darcy under his spell but Loki wasn't going to be pulled in that easily. Steve was easy to talk to, respected Loki's privacy either silently or with a nod when Loki told him otherwise, and was unusually polite for someone their age—Thor being the exception—but his charms weren't going to make Loki roll over for him and do whatever it was Steve wanted him to do. But that was just the thing, he had no idea what Steve wanted from him. It was too unusual for someone of Steve's social hierarchy to take an interest in him and Loki was too paranoid of a person to expect nothing but the worst from someone like Steve Rogers; he knew that screaming bloody murder was always an option if he needed Thor to handle the situation if it got out of hand…at the same time Thor and Steve had been friends for as long as he and Darcy had and it felt wrong to even think about his stupid brother having to lose a friendship just because of him. Loki disregards Steve's question with a shrug, nibbling his sandwich slowly.

The other students in the room murmur quietly amongst themselves. Darcy chugs down her soda and coughs. "Hey, are you going to help me with my Chemistry paper this weekend?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm not doing anything."

"What about you, Steve? Wanna come over to work on my Chemistry paper?" she grins.

Steve smiles lightly, Loki making a face at her. "I don't think you should invite me to other people's houses, Darcy—besides I finished my paper last night."

She stares at him.

"But it's not due until Monday-" Loki elbows her.

He shrugs, smiling. "I know…but I have the game on Friday and I like having the weekend to relax without any school work to stress about."

"Wow…that sounds really boring."

"Darcy-"

"What? If he does school work during the week then he doesn't need to come do it with us during the weekend!" She finishes her sandwich, Loki handing her the remainder of his. "And he can't sneak out to party during the week because he's doing stupid homework. How are you supposed to keep a girlfriend if she wants to go out during the week but you're busy and she works weekends? Huh?"

"Subtlety is not your strong suit, Darcy."

"I'm thankful for your—uhh—concern, Darcy, but I have practice during the week right now anyways. When I get home I don't want to do anything so getting homework out of the way is just easier I guess…" Steve laughs shyly, a small blush forming over his nose. "Besides I'm not seeing anyone right now so I don't think I have anything to worry about."

"Hmm…it still sounds dumb."

"At least now he won't have to stuff his face all weekend worrying about the paper he doesn't want to write." Loki's body involuntarily trembles all over. He rubs his arms.

Darcy punches him. "Shut up! And take that sweater off, it's soaked. Why don't you just change into your gym clothes? Since, you know, you weren't here this morning." She collects the trash from her late lunch and lowers her voice to Loki. "I'm running to the bathroom so…you know…make with the guy talk or whatever. Chop-chop." Darcy stands, dumping her trash and making her way towards the door.

Loki grumbles to himself. When he said he had no idea how to "guy talk" there was no other way of putting it. It was simply that: he didn't know how to guy talk. He didn't hang out with a lot of guys…he didn't consider himself masculine though he was a man. Loki didn't gender identify. He knew he was a male but he would wear feminine clothes or do feminine things as well as masculine. Of course this made it harder for him to make friends with guys—not that his personality, emotional walls, and general demeanor didn't do that already. Talking Darcy up wasn't exactly an easy task on its own. She wasn't the typical delicate blonde most high school boys took an interest in. Loki sighs and looks around. Carol Danvers was up and walking around the room. He watches her stop and flick her hair back; she seemed to be showing interest in Bucky Barnes, which apparently Darcy was right about. But that didn't make sense…because now she was approaching Steve.

"Hi, Steve," she smiles.

He looks up from his sketchbook. "Oh, hey, Carol. How are you?"

"I'm good…hey, listen-" Steve raises his brow, "-I've been having some trouble in Coulson's class and, well, I was wondering…if I could maybe call you sometime to get some help with the homework or studying or something?"

"Umm…yeah, sure," he digs his phone out of his pocket and holds it out to her. "Just put your number in and how about I give you a call tonight after practice? We can go over the last test if you'd like?"

Carol's eyes light up. "That sounds great!" She adds her number to his phone and hands it back to him. "Call me later then!" Carol gives him a wave and walks back towards her friends.

Loki watches her go, getting a better read on her than he could on Steve who was pretending not to watch him as usual. Carol waves to Bucky Barnes as she passes him and yet he didn't seem to acknowledge her like she wanted since her body language changed as she made it to her friends. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on but Darcy had definitely caught on to Carol Danvers affections towards James "Bucky" Barnes.

Steve speaks up. "How have you been? Thor told me about what happened on Sunday-"

"He would…" Loki grumbles, slicking his hair back. "I don't need everyone to check up on me, okay? I went for a walk in the rain, who cares?"

"Well…" Steve pulls his jacket out of his bag and holds it out to Loki. "I'll trade you."

"I don't-"

"You have to wait for Thor until practice is over anyways…you'll get sick just sitting in the rain in clothes that are already wet. Take it, really, I won't wear it the rest of the day anyways."

Loki hesitates. He looks around but no one seemed to be paying them much mind anymore and reaches out to take the jacket. He pulls his sweater up and over his head, folding it neatly before placing it in his bag; he pulls the jacket on. It certainly made him feel better to be out of that sweater however Steve was a lot larger than he was. The jacket felt like he was in a tent. At least his sweater clung to his arms; the jacket made him feel like he was exposed. But it did smell nice…though it smelled like Steve. Why that was a good thing Loki wasn't really sure…

"Thanks…"

Steve smiles at him and goes back to his sketchbook. Loki looks at the door anxiously. Darcy was most likely taking her sweet time, expecting Loki and Steve to be delving into a conversation about her which quite frankly was never going to happen as far as Loki was concerned. He wasn't very good at talking about girls and he didn't exactly consider her a girl to begin with; she was his best friend, and sometimes he forgot Darcy was a girl that was interested in boys.

Loki clears his throat. "So, umm…not…dating…anyone?" The curious look Steve gave him nearly made Loki turn red. This was why he didn't want to agree in the first place…he didn't want Steve to get the idea that he was interested in him.

"No…not that I know of," Steve smiles. "Why do you ask?"

He shakes his head, chewing his lip. "No reason…" Loki taps his finger on the table and Steve continues to sketch. "You think Carol likes you?"

Steve looks over towards Carol and her friends. He shrugs. "I never thought about it. I guess she has been talking to me a lot more but when you're friends with Natasha you sort of learn that when a girl talks to you it isn't always because she wants a date." Steve pauses laughing lightly. "Not that I usually think that…I'm not very good about picking up signals girls send out…"

Loki snorts. That was for sure. If he was he'd be either dating or rejecting Darcy by now. "Yeah…well you know…Darcy's kind of the same. Her and Natasha get along pretty well too." He had to keep talking about Darcy somehow, keep it going…Steve was still sketching but paying attention which made Loki feel a bit more at ease talking this way. "So Darcy—Darcy's personality gets tolerable after a while but she's still obnoxious most of the time." He could feel her mentally smacking him.

"I don't know she's not so bad," Steve glances at him with a smile. "She is very uhh…forceful, I suppose."

"You get used to it."

He chuckles. "Yes, I suppose I will. I mean, we have gotten to know one another and even more now that you're umm…more comfortable around me." Steve smiles wider when Darcy walks back in the room. "I want us to be better friends though, I really enjoy her company. I'm sure I'll never be as close to her as you are but I hope enough that we'll keep in touch after graduation, you know?"

Loki nods. Darcy sits back down next to him, Steve packing up his sketchbook as the bell rings for the next class. The three of them stand and Darcy glances to Loki, questioning whether or not he'd done as she asked, whether or not she may have a chance and his instinct was to shrug.

But only his instinct.

Instead he gave her a small nod, saying that all was well, lying to her face about Steve's intentions because Steve's good intentions were nowhere near Darcy's. He was interested in friendship and Loki was rather certain that was all he was interested in. It was a harmless little lie. For all Darcy knew, he would keep on pushing Steve into the direction she wanted. He could lie like he always did to get out of situations he wasn't fond of and just about everything else but…lying to Darcy…it wasn't something he usually did. Lying to Darcy was something he did when he didn't want her to know how he was really feeling; lying to her about something that actually meant a lot to her, well, he knew it was wrong. But he knew that no matter what he did Steve wasn't going to show an interest in her. Loki couldn't get a clear read on him on a great many things, including any thought that regarded himself, but he did know this: Steve had no romantic interest in Darcy whatsoever.

And Loki wasn't sure he ever would.