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The night air was even more charged after the round of speeches. The music's mood and tempo had lifted, and the lower tables had been removed to expose the polished dance floor. People were beginning to translate the reception from articulate words to rhythmic movement.
It had settled into the inevitable niche of merriment that most everyone Thor knew always favoured – the formalities were finished, the drinks were not, and everything had attained a pleasant glow besides that from the chandeliers. It had once been Thor's favourite time of any banquet too, usually leading the carousing himself. He was glad, though, that tonight he chose not to submerse himself completely in the boisterous throng. It might feel more like drowning, when he would be constantly looking for Jane, who preferred to celebrate out of the way.
Their high table was vacant. Jane's bridesmaids, including Darcy and Sif, were occasionally visible as flickers of blue amidst the other dancers and drinkers, and Thor had long lost sight of the Warriors Three. He stood with Jane at the edge of the dance floor.
"Shall we?" Thor offered her his hand.
"Yeah, why not?" She grinned, taking it. "I guess we have to dance together…"
Everyone parted to give them a reverent berth as they whirled lightly around the edges of the chamber. They did not speak much. Thor sometimes wondered what Jane was thinking, dancing their first dance in another world. He sometimes just focused on her small hand enclosed in his.
In his peripheral vision, his father and mother were smiling. Sif was laughing with one of her old sparring partners nearby. Darcy was trying to persuade Erik to dance. Thor thought his heart might stop beating with the joy that filled it. That same happiness would keep it going.
The next song was distinctly different from the previous. Still upbeat, but now more flowery, like a blithe waltz. Loki watched the shape of the crowd morph from evenly diffused to choppy as the guests split into pairs. Thor and Jane were two linked, radiant forms drifting in the gaps between the other partners. Loki supposed he should find someone. Abandoning the pillar he was leaning on, he made his way across the room.
Sif saw him moving fluidly towards her, a black and red figure ignoring the music's rhythm as he cut through the spiraling dancers.
"Oh, please," she muttered. She fought the urge to cock her eyebrow at Loki as he neared. Once he was within earshot, Sif considered a cutting rebuttal before he could even suggest a dance.
"Do you really think I would assent – " she began.
Loki stepped around her, continuing to the second high table. She watched him take Frigga's hand, his mother beaming at him. Sif hastily turned away.
He and the queen passed her as they moved onto the dance floor. As they did, Loki glanced at Sif over his shoulder and winked.
"Do you really think I would ask?"
"Thank you, son."
Frigga's light kiss on his forehead when their dance ended lifted an instinctive smile on Loki's mouth.
"My pleasure."
"Go enjoy the rest of the reception," she said. "But not too much." She added a nod to a small forest of partially filled goblets waiting on a nearby table.
"How well you know me, Mother."
Frigga never seemed to mind his sarcasm. She only shook her head good-humouredly before departing.
Aside from his dance with Frigga and having to deliver the Best Man's speech, the gathering was disappointingly similar to most every other banquet Loki had attended before. It was too much to expect Frigga to spend much more of the evening with him, with the number of invitees that would besiege her with their thanks and blessings. Nearly everyone else was so occupied with the food, drink or each other they may as well not be there to him. Though Thor was for once not one of them tonight, he was, understandably, with Jane.
Loki caught more glimpses of Thor and Jane still revolving gently together on the dance floor. They were almost detached from their own reception, Yggdrasil's last two planets surrounded only by tiny stars. Loki found himself a nice pillar to stand by and view the real stars outside; it was better than attempting to mingle (perhaps Jane could have told him there was also a social reason for choosing to study the sky).
He waited for the presence behind him to announce itself. Finally, a young woman's voice spoke near his shoulder, blasé and unfamiliar. "Not a fan of marriage or not a fan of socialising?"
Loki turned. One of Jane's bridesmaids in cerulean blue satin was leaning against the pillar, facing the dance floor. She looked sideways at him for a response, the corners of her lips twitching upward slightly.
"Both are fine in moderation, but Asgard always tends towards excessiveness." He shrugged. "Tonight it's the socialising." She smiled wider, lifting her shoulder furthest from him off the pillar to turn to him more directly, still leaning on the column. Her chestnut-coloured curls swayed enthusiastically as she did so.
"It's pretty hardcore in there." The woman said. "Normally, I can hold my own at parties but you people are nuts. In a good way." She flashed him another quick smile. "But seriously, it's so great to find someone else here who isn't blind drunk."
"I'm Leila, by the way," she said. "I'm one of Jane's closer associates. From Earth. Hence why my English might sound a little rougher around the edges than most people here." The skin over Leila's cheekbones was dusted with a pearly powder that glimmered under the chandelier lighting.
"My name is Loki." He tilted his head at her politely, and Leila lifted herself off the pillar, swinging around to face him completely.
"Yeah, I've heard. The speech you gave for your brother earlier was great to listen to." She grinned, leaning closer as though to be heard clearly over the reception's clamour. When she did, she ducked her head somewhat – unnecessarily, as he was a head taller than her – so she was peering up at him. "You were definitely the highlight of the night."
This reception is suddenly very different from other feasts I've attended
Loki smiled rather noncommittally. "Thank you. I'm grateful for his constant supply of idiocy for that reason only." Leila laughed and chastised him flippantly with a nudge of her elbow. She seemed secretly proud to have reached this far into a conversation with him. He sensed it was largely due to his obvious desire to not associate with the larger crowd.
Did she and I not recently establish that I don't want to socialise at all?
"Jane told me a bit about you," she smiled. Slightly mischievously, like Jane had described to her a reputation that suited Fandral much more so than Loki.
"Hm," he said. "Any compliments between the tirades?" He doubted anything Jane had told her was cause for Leila to be standing so close to him he could smell the perfume clinging to her hair, like sugar and flowers.
"Well, I think she left out how good looks run in Thor's family."
Oh, of course Thor and I have anything in common in our heredities
Without waiting for his reaction, she asked casually, "Wanna dance? We could just stick to the outside of the dance floor." Her expression was understanding, but unconcerned: he was someone who shunned mingling, therefore her company must clearly be preferable to the crowds'. He would gladly accept her offer to dance, which would not surprise her.
"I think I'll remain here for now," Loki kept his tone mannerly, but also sounding as unconcerned as she had.
Her eyelashes, coated with black makeup, twitched stiffly as she blinked at him. She pouted impishly. "But you've danced only once this entire night, and that was with your mum."
Is there something wrong with dancing with my mother?
"Because I don't otherwise enjoy dancing."
"This must be a nightmare for you then." She gestured with her chin to the celebrating Asgardians as though she had not invited him to dance moments earlier. "So wanna do something else instead?" Her roguish smile returned.
Must I always be the only one who recognises implicit messages? Leila, leave me alone
It was their fifth dance, but neither of them felt the need to stop. Jane's gaze flickered intermittently to absorb the glittering velvet sky outside, but in idle admiration, not her typical systematic scrutiny. Thor's attention altered comfortably between watching the rest of the world and watching her.
Then Jane's head suddenly straightened as she blinked and asked, "Thor, is that Loki over there with Leila?"
At the edge of the ballroom, he saw Loki standing before one of Jane's bridesmaids, who was dressed in deep blue. Thor had only spoken to Leila a few times previously, not enough to truly glean her character. The pair had settled close enough to each other that her forehead could have brushed his chin. Thor watched them with amusement.
"It is indeed. And I had earlier thought Loki would never consider romance."
Jane grinned. "Leila can be a little… brazen. I never thought Loki would've considered approaching her."
"Well, Loki has managed audacious people his entire life," Thor chuckled.
"Would that happen to include his older brother?"
"It is probable I have grazed his nerves more often than once." He conceded. "But one would not have gaged you as someone who would take to me, yet here we are." The edge of Jane's lips pulled upwards as her gaze dreamily slipped to somewhere far away, or to some time ago.
Thor said lightly, "Just be thankful that Loki does not appear to be handling her the way he might have tried to deal with me."
"What, no magic, no violence, no profanity, no tantrums?"
"Exactly."
Thor watched Frigga bypassed Loki and his new companion. Loki shot a pained glance after their mother while it seemed Leila was gesturing towards the ballroom's entrance. Then Loki's eyes flickered around the room and met Thor's for a brief moment, bothered.
Thor's smirk subsided. "Actually, Jane, I don't think Loki is very pleased with Leila's attentions."
Thor motioned to Erik holding an empty wineglass nearby. Jane wordlessly allowed him to steer them to her Midgardian friend. She parted from Thor and squeezed Erik's free hand.
"Have this dance with me, Erik?"
While the two waltzed back onto the floor, Thor headed across the ballroom.
"Well, you're no fun," Leila teased. "You really happy to just stand here bored all night while everyone else is having a good time?"
"It seems a sound idea."
It had been a while since Loki had wished he could just be left alone. It seemed he had to discover someone more thickheaded than Thor to do so. Speaking of whom –
"Loki!"
Thor stood behind Leila, who turned on her heel to stare at Thor. Thor grinned broadly.
"Forgive my intrusion, Leila, but I would ask my little brother for this dance," Thor said to her. She broke her ogling with a blink and a nod.
"Oh, sure, as the groom wishes." Loki watched her beam warmly over her discontent.
Loki looked at Thor in askance, and Thor just tilted his head in return. Curious, Loki scanned the dance floor; Jane was turning rhythmic circles with Selvig. Thor held out his hand, waiting.
Loki sighed. He hid his amusement. "Very well. You'll have to excuse me, Leila."
He added to Thor, "But no holding me any lower than the waist like last time."
Thor was not so capable at holding in a guffaw. Leila made an odd squeak.
Then her eyes widened. "Hey, I thought you said before you didn't like dancing…"
"I did say that."
She commented to his turned back, a mixture of stern and – bizarrely – still playful. "Oh, you're a liar."
Loki looked back at her, eyebrows delicately drawn together in puzzlement. "Erm, yes. I thought you said before Jane had told you a bit about me…?"
They treaded another elaborate circle across the echoing floor. They were the only pair that was not tailed by the swirling of a long dress.
"You are an abysmal dancer," Loki remarked.
Thor scoffed. "I spend my time training for wars and leading a kingdom in place of dancing."
"You have had copious amounts of peaceful time in the past months preceding tonight to learn a few simple steps."
"You still cannot expect me to equal your expertise in mere months – "
"I begun learning a fortnight ago, Brother."
Thor wheeled Loki around to thump him into Volstagg passing by. Loki glared at him, miffed.
"How is my form so in need of work?" Thor asked.
"Well, first of all, there are these little acts of family violence… "
"In all seriousness, Brother."
"You don't keep the measured distance between your feet – "
Thor's eyebrows shot up. "How the Hel am I supposed to measure the distance between my feet every step?"
" – and you spin your partner too violently, not only on that occasion. Your wife will be knocked insensible some day. Be glad your guests give you two a wide berth to reduce the casualties."
"I'll knock you insensible – "
"But thank you for the invitation to dance, Brother," Loki talked over him as they whirled. "This is still preferable to all else I've done today."
The strange ache was back in Thor's chest. He spun Loki again, slowly.
"You're always welcome, Loki."
On a side note, does anyone else find they sometimes speak a bit more... Asgardian, lately?