Day 99

Loki Laufeyson

Jane is more interested in the preserved remains of a large butterfly than she is in him. He knows this because she's been reading the pamphlet on its discovery and behavioral patterns for seven straight minutes. He's cleared his throat so many times his vocal cords burn. Her eyes move across the page at an acceptable pace to commit the information to memory. If she's pretending just to irritate him, she's doing an excellent job.

"Hmm…" she purses her lips. "Says here the Urania sloanus was a diurnal moth. That's interesting. Most moths are nocturnal."

"Are they really?" He notes a strip of peeling paint on the wall.

"Went extinct in the early 1900s." She sticks the pamphlet in her purse; it's bursting with countless others. "Let's go check out the history exhibits."

They make a quick detour at the museum cafe. Jane waits on line to take their orders while he secures their table. It's busy today, though not as busy as it could be, or so she says. Loki changes position a hundred times, but the hardback chair with it's sagging cushions and broken bits of plastic poking his thighs is as comfortable as a rockbed on Muspelheim.

By now, Jane has reached the counter. She waits for the serving boy to return with their meals. There's a man he doesn't know standing next to her. He's decent looking and tall, though not as tall as Loki. He seems to be talking to Jane. Shutting out the rambunctious children and laughing adults, Loki listens in.

"I mean, I've always loved the museum. You meet some interesting people."

"Yup."

"I wish I could come here more often, but with work and family stuff. I don't get as much free time as I'd like."

"Yeah, me neither."

Jane doesn't sound overly interested in this conversation. She doesn't sound completely uninterested either, and that's what gets Loki out of his seat. He steps around a group of unsupervised children running wild. One nearly trips him, and narrowly avoids a kick in the head. It's nothing personal, Loki just isn't interested in stopping for anyone.

He arrives at Jane's side as her hapless would-be suitor is, presumably, about to swallow his fear and ask her to sit with him. Loki pulls Jane into his arms, kissing her temple, her cheek, and her lips in succession.

"There you are, dearest," he says. He kisses her lips again. "So sorry for making you wait. Shall we?"

Loki walks her to their table without a second glance at the stunned man. He'll most likely shuffle off to whatever hovel he came from or else find another woman to woo. Either way, it's of no consequence.

"I still don't have our food, you know," she says.

He would argue, but he can hear her stomach growl. "I'll get it. You sit."

The food is waiting when he goes back. The man is not. Loki triumphantly carries the tray back to their table. The putrid stench of fryer grease and undercooked meat cannot penetrate his defenses. Not this time. He eats his entire hot dog without complaint.

"Having fun?" she asks.

"I am not bored. Your people have certainly been creative in their attempts to understand the world around them."

She can't seem to decide if that was meant to be good or bad. In all honesty, neither can he.

"I would ask what your favorite exhibit is," she says, squirting extra ketchup on her burger, "but I'm pretty sure none of them can top terrorizing the innocent."

"And who have I terrorized today?"

"Loki, come on. There was no reason for you to go all macho Alpha male just because some guy talked to me."

Loki starts. He knew this was coming, but he never thought she'd be so blunt. "Who says I wasn't just concerned that you'd been on your feet for so long? That has little to do with jealousy."

"I never said you were jealous."

"And I never said I liked terrorizing him."

Jane bites into her sandwich, juices gushing from the meat into her teeth. She licks it all away and lowers her face as she chews. That burger is bigger than both her hands combined. If she finishes half of it, it'll be a miracle.

"I've never seen you eat so heartily," he says.

"I usually don't," she says, "but it's not like I have to worry about gaining weight."

She finishes maybe a third of the burger and then pushes her plate aside. Loki is already done and she gives no objection when he takes their tray and deposits it next to the trash receptacle by the exit. Loki is compelled by an inexplicable force to reach for her hand. His fingertips touch hers before he comes back to his senses.

In the history wing, construction on a new exhibit is in progress. The war-themed room plays cheery orchestral music over the loudspeakers. Captain Rogers' face stares down at them, one finger pointing at the camera as if passing judgment. Loki thinks about burning it, but there's nothing flammable close by to make it look like an accident. Jane is at least marginally interested, which means they can't leave just yet.

"So what's he like in person?" she nods at a mannequin dressed in a more archaic version of the Captain's current uniform.

"Unimpressive," he says. His fingers flex involuntarily. "I was expecting taller."

She giggles, at him or at his words, he doesn't know. The workers pull back a canvas, unveiling a mural. The Captain and his former team immortalized on the wall for all time. Or at least until the exhibit is closed and a more engaging scene is painted over it. Like the history of papermaking.

"You know," Jane says, her eyes lidded, "that one guy in the blue jacket is kind of hot."

Loki's teeth clench. He keeps his lips tightly closed so she won't see."Those men are either long dead or close to it."

"Still hot."

Whatever she's trying to achieve, he hopes it involves a night strapped to a bedpost by her wrists as he licks and pinches her most sensitive areas, keeping her on the edge of climax for hours.

Because that's exactly what she gets.