Seventy Six
Thor disappeared shortly after his confrontation with Loki. Seems he either didn't want to deal with the fact the brother he grew up with was sleeping with his brother in arms, or accepted it and went on his way. I suspected the former. Both Loki and I suspected we were going to have more confrontations with the Asgardian Prince.
Once Loki rested he poured more of his energy into me, healing me. Even though both of us were alright, neither of us wanted to leave the house. Bruce, Nat and Pepper coordinated as much of the clean up as possible. They all wanted to see me heal.
I set to work on implementing the drones artificial intelligence. It allowed my mind to work and off the reason Loki was constantly reverting back into his Jotun form. Granted, he was gorgeous in that form, but he had always seemed to be more comfortable his Aesir form. There was something off, I could feel it in my gut. I tried asking him, but he always seemed to avoid the question and his blue coloring would fade into porcelain white.
I had remembered what Loki had told me about the dark lines that decorated his body. Remembered about their sensitivity. I took every opportunity to ghost my fingers across his skin. I'd watch that shiver run down his spine, and turn to stare at me for interrupting his reading.
I think he liked it though, as he was wearing less clothes, despite the colder weather moving in. His excuse was always that it was too warm. That he was burning up and his Jotun form felt cooler. The excuse felt off, but I guess being an ice giant allowed him not to feel the cooler temperatures.
Until the day I was sick of him avoiding the question. It was shortly after Thanksgiving, Pepper, Nat and Bruce had joined us in celebrating. He held his Aesir form while they were visiting. As soon as we were alone, he reverted back, kissing me, stripping me down. I'm not complaining, sex with Loki is phenomenal, but he'd turned into a nymphomaniac since returning from Alfheim.
I had him pinned down, kissing down the markings on his neck and shoulders. I positioned my self just barely touching his wet opening, teasing him.
"Tony?" He asked, trying to thrust himself up into me. "Is everything alright?"
"No, Loki. It's not. You've been avoiding my questions for weeks. What's going on?"
"Nothing." He lied again.
"This is not happening until you tell me why you're always blue lately." I got up and started getting myself dressed.
"I told you, I'm burning up in Midgard's weather."
"That's not it. You're always blue and always in my pants. Not that I don't like it, but something's up." I said tucking my shirt back in.
"Alright." He said sitting on the edge of bed. "Jotuns go through a sexually receptive time once a year. Tony, I want a baby."
"Wait. What? A baby? So soon after… "I stumbled and started again. " You're telling me you're in heat, and this will happen every year? For how long?" I stopped in my tracks and sputtered.
"Every two years. The Jotun year is two of Midgards years. And I am unfamiliar with this word, heat."
"It's called that when animals here on earth are sexually receptive, as you put it."
"Ah. Then yes, I am in heat. Midgarians don't go through cycles like this?"
"No, females are fertile a few weeks of the month and males seem to always be fertile. But both always seem to be receptive. Sex is for recreation as well as procreation." I explained the best I could. Maybe I shouldn't have slept through all these anatomy classes. They're proving to be helpful now. "So, for how long each time? So I know what to expect next time."
"A month."
"It's been almost two."
"A Jotun month, I believe that's two months here."
"Why now?" I asked, trying to wrap by head around this.
"I think my pregnancy kick started it. Or maybe the fact I'm finally whole, again. I have a lot of reading to do yet. This was the reason I returned to Alfheim. I had asked Îrben to gather some books for me before we left. I wanted to know everything before telling you."
"Loki." I cooed, sitting next to him. "You know you can tell me anything."
"I know." He sobbed softly into my side.
"Love bug, it's okay."
"I don't understand how I'm not with child yet."
"It's not the right time. It will happen someday." I soothed him, petting his hair. We sat for awhile, holding one another. I think we were both thinking of our lost child.
"I forgot, Îrben sent you a gift." He got up, magicking some shorts as he stood. He ran out of the room and quickly returned holding two boxes. He handed both to me. I opened the larger one first. It was a box of Malrin's cookies. I went to put one in my mouth, Loki slapped my hand.
"Hey!" I protested.
"Open the other one." He sat smiling. So I opened the other, removing a golden apple and a note. It read: "Something healthy before cookies."
I smirked, biting into the apple.