InsaneJournal

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Who: Jane and Thor
When: Morning of the time bump (mid-day in Norway)
What: Bodies change, people remain the same




Thor had to admit: he was enjoying rebuilding Tonsberg. The small village was far and away different than Asgard had been and yet it still held the same appeal. It was like his father had said -- Asgard was her people, and that was evident, looking down at the chattering people, milling around the center, going about their business.

Thor had stayed busy, helping with simple repairs, since he'd woken up that morning. Without Jane, he had no real reason to linger in bed. When the sun rose, so did he and he reveled in keeping busy. Today, he'd been helping a blacksmith set up his forge and by the time they were done, he was covered in soot. Even though he had other things to do, he decided to head back to his home and shower.

Normally he was in and out but today, with as much grime he had on him, he took a bit longer, soaping up his hands and body thoroughly before moving onto his hair. Since having it cut short, it only took a moment but when he went to rinse the shampoo out of his eyes, he found that something was tickling him on the shoulder. Peering over, he froze and stood a moment in thought, the water cascading down. Was that his .... wait...

With a tentative hand, he reached up and patted his hair. Gone was the shorn locks he'd been sporting for a year or more...his hair was back. And braided. With a grin, he rinsed off and turned the shower off, getting out to grab a towel. It wasn't until he tried to wrap it around his waist that he noticed something else: it wasn't quite going around like it did before. In fact, it wouldn't at all.

And then it hit him -- this was the body. The hair. All of it from that other universe. In a panic, he reached for his phone. The display picture was the same -- a picture of him and Jane. Thor let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair while he tried to figure this out. What had happened? Had that other universe finally come here? No, he couldn't do this right now. Not without Jane. Dressing in a hurry, he stepped outside and looked around. Everything looked the same.....the people were the same, they were waving and smiling and no one seemed to notice that he'd gained about 30 lbs and had longer hair.

Calling Stormbreaker to him, he immediately took off to Jane's, landing on her balcony and stepping in the apartment. It was still early in New York, and Jane was guaranteed to be asleep so he slowly padded into the bedroom where true enough, she was hidden under a pile of blankets with her hair peeking out. He always loved her long hair ... wait -- he frowned a bit and lifted the blanket. Her hair had grown as well, back to its old length. With a slightly shaky hand, he reached out and smoothed the hair out of her face. "My love," he said quietly, slipping into bed next to her. "Wake up...something has happened..."

With Thor living in Tonsberg and Jane still in NYC to finish up her cancer treatment, she'd taken to sleeping in the center of her bed, cratered between all of the pillows and blankets pulled high. She got cold easier over the past few months. At least if she spread out it made not having Thor asleep beside her easier.

Oh so she thought. "Mmmph," Jane protested. She cracked her eyes and seeing no sign of daylight behind the curtains, closed them again. "Thor. It's early. Go back to sleep."

"I exist 6 hours in the future from you," he replied. "It is midday, but that is beside the point. Please. Wake up. I don't know what is going on but I am ..not quite myself. For this reality." These were weird words to say, and he tried to soften them by pulling her close and rubbing her back. When that didn't work, the only thing he had left remaining was kissing, which he started to ardently do, in a way that she couldn't escape. "Wake up...help me solve this.."

It wasn't unusual during periods of separation for Thor to let himself unannounced into Jane's nor for him to be affectionate when he arrived. For a moment, it was as if he was returning for Asgard or one of his adventures with the Avengers. Except for his strange words, once Jane (with her astronomer's aversion to mornings) could focus on them.

"Okay. Okay, I'm up." She opened her eyes to Thor in bed beside her the way she had so many times before, his long hair spilling across the pillow in the dim.

"Hang on," she said reaching out for it. There was a braid behind his ear the way he liked. "Did Loki magic your hair back?"

He shook his head. "No, I do not believe so ...unless you asked him to magic your hair back, elskede." Under the covers, she must not have noticed how his body was either. He was curious how she would react. He still didn't know how to process that . "How are you feeling?"

"Like I could use some coffee..." she said sitting up and reaching a hand towards her head. There was almost no need. With every movement, Jane was aware of the heavy swing of her hair in a way she hadn't been in months.

"...The fuck?" She threw off the covers and padded barefoot to the bathroom, throwing on the light and rushing to the mirror. Her hair was down past her shoulders now, brown waves rumpled and tangled from sleep. No strands came lose when she ran her hands through it. In the mirror, the dark circles were gone from beneath Jane's eyes beyond those typical of being woken early from sleep. The hollows under her eyes and cheekbones were gone, the gaunt look missing from her face. Also missing was the row of medication from the bathroom counter.

She stood in the bathroom doorway, backlit from the light above the mirror. "Were we freaky Friday-ed?"

Her hair was beautiful. He'd grown accustomed to seeing it short but this ...this was wonderful. He'd forgotten a bit how her curls cascaded down her shoulders, how the deep browns lightened slightly in the sunlight. His fingers itched to braid it. Her question threw him out of his reverie. Frowning slightly, he propped himself up on his elbow, looking at her quizically. "I believe it is Monday....do Fridays have magical powers? I never noticed that before.." Something to ask Loki.

"It's a movie about people who trade bodies," Jane explained, going to sit beside him on the edge of the bed. "All my pills are missing."

Jane looked at Thor quizzically for a moment and then reached out, settling her palm against his cheek. The difference was subtle under his beard but his face was a little fuller than when she'd seen him last. And not just his face. Jane splayed her other hand against his chest.

"Not just hair," she said puzzled.

"No..." But he wasn't displeased. The more he thought about it, the more he kind of enjoyed the fact that this time, he wasn't like this because of depression. Whatever had happened, he felt happy and fulfilled.

Well. To a point. He still wished Jane lived in Norway but ...

"Jane." He sat up suddenly and brushed her cheek. "Does this mean you are fully hale again? Is your illness gone? I am still at a loss for what has happened here, to you...to myself .. do you think this happened to only us? There are many questions in my mind at the moment....but they are shadowed when I look at the glow in your face. You look radiant."

"I don't know. I feel tired but that's because somebody is bad at time zones and woke me up. I want coffee and I'm hungry. I haven't been hungry in the mornings in..." She pushed her hands through her hair again and again no strands came away in her fingers the way they had when she was on chemo. Jane looked at Thor, eyes wide. Hope bloomed across her face.

"We don't know what's happened," she said quickly. "It could be a million things. Maybe the reality stone again or we got booted into another dimension."

Jane pulled her phone off the charger to check if anyone was talking about things happening to them. She overlooked the date on the lockscreen at first until something about the wrongness wriggled at the back of her mind and she looked again.

2023.

"Thor, what's the date on your phone?"

"I have no idea." When he'd looked at it earlier, it was only to ensure the picture was still there. Sitting up, he reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled it out. "Uh...June 17, 2023, why?"

A pause.

"2023?"

"Mind leeches? Something that took our memory of the last few years?" Jane guessed.

"If I managedd to build a portal and then forgot about it, I'm going to be so mad. But why would I be here and you in Norway? We didn't breakup again?"

Thor hadn't even thought of that. Had they broken up? He didn't think so.

"I doubt it..." He grabbed his own phone and opened up the network, scanning it before stopping. "Huh. It appears Doctor Strange broke the universe." Thor did not have good things really to say about Strange -- well, if thinking the man was pretentious was a bad thought. He gave Jane a slight nod. "Open your phone. You too can read about it. "

Because Thor wasn't going to bother figuring this out. He tossed his phone to the other side of the bed, and laid down again, his arms crossed under his head. What did this mean, that they were now suddenly four years into the future? "Hold on...Jane, how long did you say you needed to be healthy before they considered your illness to be in remission? Is four years enough time?" He was getting excited. Maybe they could live together again, she wouldn't have to be in New York anymore.

"He did what? Oh for crying out loud." Jane looked at her phone for her minute and tapped out a response. "For all the attitude I got about spilled tea. Honestly."

That done, Jane set her phone aside and crawled next to Thor. Maybe they hadn't broken up but neither of them seemed to be wearing rings and she hadn't seen any laying around.

She refound the comfiest place on Thor's chest to lay her head. "Remission is when they can no longer detect signs of cancer. They say you're cured after five years in remission."

"We should speak with that doctor then," he said, holding her close. "See where you are. Then ...we can make plans. Four years have passed," he teased. "I do not wish another four years to pass before we live together again."