Who: Darcy, Loki What: coffee talk When: the day after spam talk Rating/Warning: Green
Loki agreed to meet Darcy after work at the same coffee shop they once frequented. The day before, she had dragged him out of his room by his ear and drove him to this place. Then there there were long pauses, awkward getting to know you banter, and polite questions on his part.
The benefit of going there was familiarity, which was why he made the suggestion when she asked where to. It was close by where he once they lived, and while it held some nostalgia, he never deigned fit to sit inside it until yesterday afternoon. Before, they were always fetching the coffee before sneaking off elsewhere or they went home. Sitting there, in public, was a different story for him. Socializing without some prior plot or planned reasoning behind it was more than his usually quiet self put up with. Loki liked shadows. It was where he got all of his best work accomplished, formed his best ideas, and played all the best tricks.
Broad daylight with a vivacious Midgardian like Darcy Lewis was vastly different. This entire situation was different. He didn't expect to lose her. Then again, he didn't expect to die either. And that put things in perspective lately, and left him sullen and withdrawn, even before the Darcy he knew had disappeared.
He waited for her to arrive at the same table as the day before, claiming it as their own. He was wearing a long sleeved v-neck t-shirt in a shade of dark green, with black pants and shoes. Thor's sunglasses (stolen, of course) were pushed up onto the top of his head, holding his hair back out of his face. Despite being overdressed, he didn't look at all bothered because of the heat outside.
After getting off work, Darcy made her way over towards the same cafe spot from the other day. It was easy for her to spot Loki from behind, so with a smirk she came up behind him after letting her hair down. The sudden feel of her hands taking his hair and pulling up. Until she was now wearing a man-bun. Before he was able to take it down, that picture would be taken quickly as she smirked. “This is so going on instagram” She said snickering.
Already she came to sit across from him. Today she was a bit more casual. A black fitted shirt with green skinny slacks and heels once more. Her hair was now down from being tied up, since her hair tie was currently in Loki’s hair. She still snickered at Tony’s expression as she came to look at Loki “Did you wait long?” She asked as she looked for a waiter to take their order.
But once across him she came to kick off her heels like last time, and brought her feet to rest over his lap under the table.
That certainly set the tone for this venture. Again.
He left the hair as it was. For now. And he wasn't using one of his illusion spells to hide his face. For now.
"Liberties again, Miss Lewis," he asked politely, merely to get on her nerves with formality. There was nothing formal about Darcy, which was a stark contrast to him. Even when he was backstabbing, it was done with the hint of a smile. "Whatever will I do with you? You seem set on making things rather complicated. I'm terribly sorry. I might have to kill you."
He put his hands on her feet and began rubbing the arches with his thumbs.
“You can try. But you’d have to go trough Thor.. No Jane actually for that.” She replied smirking. Once he started rubbing at her feet again, she licked her lips. “You’re starting” She said with a snicker. Exhaling deeply as she looked around. Grabby hands made towards him suddenly.”Where’s my iced coffee” She said almost pleading now.
But she held that sile over her features none the less. She was tired from work, but still… She was out of work and about to having coffee with Loki. Speaking off… Grabby hands once again made in his direction. “Lookkkiii where is it…. I want it.” She said as she smirked at him once more.
It was difficult not to stare. He grew accustomed to her face, her voice, her mannerisms, and even the sound of her snoring. The universe changed none of those things. And that she didn't think he was so villainous, that she let him touch her again at all, was a miracle.
Or, at least, he dared to hope it was.
One hand released her foot and reached over, sliding a large iced coffee across the table with a fingertip. It was sitting there long enough to get beads of condensation on the sides. His finger swiped down through it as he finished pushing it over, and then he placed the cold wet finger against the bottom of her foot just to be obnoxious.
"I'm utterly terrified of Jane Foster." That wasn't true. He liked Jane's smacking little hand. He remembered it fondly. She was still too smart for Thor, of course. "Is there anything else that the...heh...lady requires of me?"
When he pushed the drink towards her, her grabby hands took hold of her reward. She this was her reward for putting up with Peter ‘Star-Dork’ Quill. But her attention was on Loki once more. When he called her a lady in such a way she lowered her foot and pressed her heel against him as she growled. “Keep it up Loki.” She said as she shook her head.
Meanwhile she placed her phone within her pocket as she brought that straw to her lips and slowly took a sip. Sapphire eyes watching him ever so closely now. “So, what did you do today?” She asked casually as she handed her drink out for him to sip at for the moment.
That got a low laugh out of him, as he pinched at her toes out of retaliation. Their conversation might have been awkward and uncomfortable, and he fell quiet often, but it wasn't overtly difficult either. This felt somehow...right.
"I refuse. I shall not keep up. By all means, pout about it," he said, taking the offered coffee with his free hand and taking a sip, before giving it back to her. The answer he was formulating was an illusive one. He was being cautious, because this was no longer the same situation, and he was not certain if it was worthwhile for her to be dragged into his meddling. "Research."
He smiled. It wasn't off putting, but it didn't give away much, either.
"And you? Did you enjoy your day working for Stark and his industries?"
“I went to work Sunday” She informed him. In truth, Darcy had gone to work non stop since arriving, the difference was, she left early today to meet up with Loki. Watching him take a sip of her drink and returning it back to her. It wasn’t long before she returned to slipp that straw in her mouth and sip as well.
“Research on what?” She asked for the moment as she wiggled her toe for him to rub at her foot again. She found she enjoyed this a lot. Perhaps a little too much in truth. Still that smile rested over her features as she brought her foot to once more press against him. Just to see if she could get the God to blush, or get a reaction out of him that would please her.
"Various subjects," Loki replied, a little too smoothly, and both hands moved to rub at her foot while staring into her eyes. If she wanted to see him blush, it would take more than that. He applied pressure to his thumbs against the underside of Darcy's foot, rubbing them around in slow circles, up and down. Once he was done with that, the other foot was given the same treatment.
"I believe you were not required to work on Sundays." He was watching her intently for the same reason, to see if he could make her blush. "I gather this was of your own accord. Busy trying to forget the horrifying sight that you awoke to, the day before?"
The man should not be allowed to rub feet.. Least no one else’s just hers. The thought alone was selfish of er to have, and she wondered if she was even allowed to have it? They had a similar conversation last time they were here. A shaky breath left her lips as he worked over her feet.
Watching him watch her, it was easy for her cheeks to flush as she looked away from him.
When he mentioned her sight that say she shook her head. “I just felt like working. Figured I’m more useful working, than resting.” She lied. She needed the distraction, which didn’t help her the way she wanted it too.
Good. She stopped prying. That blush was rather fetching too. How receptive she was to just a seemingly simple touch, was even more so. As he worked at her aching feet, subjected as they were to Midgardian's odd idea of footwear - it was easy to get lost between what was then and what was now. Thinking about it? Well. That only made things worse.
He pushed those thoughts aside for the moment, and would leave them to ponder over when he was alone. There was something more pressing that was - literally - at hand.
"You're lying. Tsk. This won't do." He grabbed hold of an ankle with one hand and began tickling her foot with his other hand. "Trying to lie to the God of Mischief and Lies. Tell me the truth. Am I correct? Surely it wasn't my exemplary acting. I would have made a fine thespian."
“No..no no no” She said laughing suddenly when he started tickling her as she shook her head and tried to pull her foot away, but he had a grip on her ankle for the moment. “I wanted to distract myself.” She said laughing as she pulled. “Loki, stop.” She said laughing again as she shook her head for the moment.
Still she finally was able to pull her foot free as she came to look, no glare at him as she sipped her drink. “You are evil.” She said about the tickling comment. “I should post that picture on Instagram now.” She said smirking all the while. Her foot soon came back t poke at his chest. “No tickling.” She warned him.
“Or else.”
"Or else," he purred with satisfaction, and watched her for a long moment with a slight tilt of his head. "I really don't think it wise. It should be deleted. I told you...."
'I told you before, please, do not post those.'
The words were frozen on the tip of his tongue, which meant, thankfully, that he couldn't repeat something he had said before, but not to her.
The fingers of one hand raised to comb out his hair so it hung loose around his shoulders again.
"I hate to distract," he didn't, he lived for it and loved doing it, "but you mentioned people turning to dust. That morning. I meant to ask you about it. Unless it's too much to speak of, this soon."
She pouted when she saw him let his hair down… At least she had it on her phone now.
When he asked about the dusting, she shifted her eyes for the moment. She guessed it was about time someone asked her about that. But only two people knew. Strange and Loki. So, with a heavy exhale she shrugged her shoulders.
“You can ask me things…” She said sipping her drink once more. She wanted the distraction, Loki and work and Jane were perfect for that. But seems Loki wanted to know what she saw.
He was curious, and what more, he wanted to know what Darcy knew - his Darcy or not - before others. It felt like it used to, when he told her everything. Only this was much more one sided, and he was giving away very little...if only to spare her any further troubles.
"More or less, only what you saw of it," he said, noting the way she deflated a little bit. The mood had a pall thrown over it, but it would only be so long before someone like Darcy ripped it off. If it was up to him, he would cocoon in it for a good long while. Absorb it. Let despair suffer a sea change into bitterness. "I imagine there was no word, of where it came from or what caused it. Or was there?"
Darcy came to exhale as she looked at Loki. “No… The only warning was people screaming suddenly.” She said remember hearing people screaming frantically outside and inside the building she was at. Another sip was taken as she held out her cup for him to take another sip from.
“We didn’t know what was going on, everyone was frantic.. I left my interview and ran to call jane and then...Woke up with you.” She added as she came to take her hair tie from him and came to tie her hair up in a ponytail for the moment.
“Nothing like that’s happened here?”
"No. Or, more specifically? Not yet. I think it bodes ill for us, but I am likely being fatalistic."
With good reason, considering what happened to him.
He watched her after taking a sip again, seeming to note every movement she was making, and pensively considering what it must have been like. It pleased him though, that she made it. His intrepid Darcy, weathering everything, even screaming and chaos. Her first thought and loyalty, to her friends.
"Were you able to make contact with Jane Foster?" he asked, hoping that was the case. Half of the Asgardians were out there still, somewhere, allowed to escape the purge that they stayed to try to fend off. But if Thor ever reached Earth, then at least Loki's mind was at ease that some of those he loved were still alive. "Do you know if she was one of those who was taken away?"
“Before I woke up, she had picked up the phone…” Least Darcy was able to leave that reality knowing Jane was there. But than she wondered what was happening, and if she was safe. But her focus came back to Loki for the moment. “Well, hopefully it doesn’t happen here. I went through it once, and that’s enough for me.” She said as she came to bring her hand out to take hold of his.
Her foot poking his chest for the moment, urging him to rub at her foot once more and to change the subject all together. Once his hand came into hers, she ran her fingers over his knuckles and palm for the moment.
A smile over her features. “I dreamt about you last night.”
Loki didn't realize he was holding in a breath until he let it out, slowly, closing his eyes. He smiled a little bit and nodded, hoping the same thing, but dreading the worst.
Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives. Sooner or later.
Darcy's foot nudge jostled him out of those thoughts and he was glad for it. Glad enough to take hold of her hand as though it was a lifeline. In a fundamental way, it was.
"Did you wake up screaming?" he quipped in response, with an amused gleam in his pale eyes.
“I woke very pleased” She replied with a smirk as she watched him closely. Her head shaking a bit as she wiggled her toes in his direction playfully. A sip of her drink was made once more as she felt the cup empty after another sip and she pouted suddenly.
“Lookkkiii” She said whining playfully. Holding the empty cup. “It’s empty.” She said pouting once more as she shook her head and snickered for the moment. She poked him again, playfully.
"That's unexpected. I suppose it was bound to happen once in a thousand years or so." He tried not to think about what that might entail, which gave everything a seize the day ambience. Meanwhile, he was smirking back at her and her obvious attempt to get him to pamper her.
If he was the pampered prince, then Darcy was a pouting princess who would have everyone eating out of her hand and saying thank you afterward.
All the more fun to banter with.
"I'm terribly sorry. Did you want something?" he asked, innocently. He pointed off to one side, where the barista was behind the counter. "I'm afraid you should pout in that direction."
Darcy pouted again. “But I’m asking you.” She said poking his stomach with her foot. Of course by this time, she was laughing. “Where’s your drink, I know you have one.” She said looking at him with shifty eyes. But still she held that smile as she laughed once more.
“So… I have to ask.” She said looking at him “And no lying… What shady shit did you do before?”
She asked since the conversation she was having with Tony had sparked her interest but she’d ask Loki and see if he’d tell her the truth.
Loki froze for a moment, even when her squirrely toes went poking into his stomach. He knew he would have to face it and tell her, but he did not expect it to be done in a coffee shop.
And if they wanted to have anything past 'hanging out' then he was going to have to let her in on his past transgressions.
Right after he made a show of finding his cup, holding it up to show her with a bright smile.
"Would you like me to fetch those drinks now?"
Never let it be said that Loki wasn't an opportunist, and wouldn't change his tune in the blink of an eye to weasel out of an uncomfortable situation. For as many precious seconds as that would buy him.
“Uh uh.” She said pointing her finger at him for the moment. “Spill. What did you do.” She said taking his drink in her hold. She had his drink to occupy her mouth with. She wanted to see what warnings Tony was talking about, since he seemed to have various back up plans for her.
She also noticed that Loki had this magnetic force to himself, that it was like drawing moth to a flame (him being the flame, and Darcy being the moth). It was intense to be around.
“Loki. Third chance, remember.’ She said as she casually sipped his drink.
She was right and he knew it. There had been a second chance on his life granted when he arrived in this universe and he met Darcy. He fouled that up, magnificently, and the burden of it took a toll on Darcy. And then this happened, and a third chance never came around. If the world was going to end - and he had no doubts that Thanos would come for him again - Loki had his fill of misery. He had seen too much death already, including his own. He'd rather be enjoying what time he had left, with those he loved most. Despite his sometimes vocal complaints.
Mourning the lost Darcy wasn't really availing him either. Not when that misery had cut so deep, or that he didn't even bother to let this Darcy calm down, so he might explain.
"Yes. I remember. How far back qualifies as before?" Loki asked, clasping his hands together on the table and sitting up straighter. He looked ready to answer any and all questions, for this was Darcy. And if he wanted to win her over again, he would have to put himself in her good graces. "This so called shady shit sounds like that which I am highly skilled at."
“Skilled or not, what did you do?” She asked getting to the point. Her foot resting on his lap as she leaned back. Giving him her complete attention. In truth, she was a bit nervous about what she would find out.
But Tony said he'd verify if Loki was telling the truth. Still.she came to wiggle her toe at him playfully. That straw between her lips as she smiled at him.
Soon his drink was held out for him to take sip from.
Loki didn't take the cup back, or take a sip. Instead, he stared into the eyes of the women he loved more than anything, even his need for conquest, as though he was a man condemned.
"Very well. If desire a confession, I shall offer all of it, then. I faked my death. I stole the throne. Cast a spell of forgetting over Odin, so he was a dottering old man left in a care home here on Midgard. I banished some of Asgard's most loyal subjects. Inadvertently let our sister into Asgard, where she slayed Thor's friends and some of its people. After Asgard was destroyed, I know now that the mad titan known as Thanos murdered half of the Asgardians on that ship and nearly killed Thor. I am certain it was he that rendered those around you to dust, along with all life in half of the universe. Not here. I was here already, so I escaped it. As were you. And although I liked you, I lied when I took you on one of your Midgardian dates."
Here is where the bitterness slowly crept in, the words pouring like venom over his silver tongue.
"I conspired. I plotted. And I took you to another realm under the guise of a romantic overture to carry out a plan. You caught me. And I bound your tongue so that you could tell no others. Until you promised you would not. Then I coerced you to keep the secret with me, marking you as a liar as well."
He smiled. A little too sweetly. It was a practiced smile, of the sort meant to cover up one's true intentions.
"Ultimately, I popped off realm for a moment and was pursued by the minions of Thanos to Helheim. And that is where the Thor and Stephen Strange fetched me, and now? Ta-da. Here I am."
She didn't need to know the Tesseract was bound to him, stashed away in his dimensional space, without any way for him to retrieve it. That was Thor's duty now. To be his brother's keeper. And the less Darcy knew of him having the Tesseract, the better. He wasn't about to volunteer that information to her.
In truth, Darcy had no idea what Loki was going to confess. She knew the man did horrible things during the New York attack, but after that she didn’t know much. So to hear just what he had done, and then what he had done on a date with the other her. Her eyes widen at the thought.
But it got worse, the more he confessed. He bounded the other Darcy to not tell, and guilted her into keeping his secret. A heavy sigh escaped her lips. She fell silent for a long while. Letting his confession repeat in her mind, as she idly played with her thoughts, trying to figure out the right words to say to him.
“And you loved her? During all of that, you loved her?” She asked as she tilted her head and held her hand out. “Hear me out” She said before he could say anything. “I do believe you loved her. I really do, but not during those times. Because what you did to her, that’s not love. That’s abuse, Loki.” She said looking him in the eyes for the moment. “But like I said, I do believe you loved her.. Just not the right way.”
She thought a bit more. “I’m drawn to you, even when I woke up here, scared and naked I couldn’t stop staring at you. It was another reason I was so scared. I think… No matter where we’re from if we find each other it’s endgame for us. But know this.”She said pointing at him.
“I won’t be abused, not again and not ever.” She said looking at him with a serious expression. “If you’re going to love me, than love me.”
When she asked if he loved her, he took hold of her hand in reply. The openness with which he stared into her eyes made it plain to see how he felt. It was raw and exposed like a nerve. He didn't expect what followed after, and his fingers clenched slightly around her hand as his gaze shifted, and he was looking off to one side so he didn't have to look her in the eyes while she said those things.
It didn't help that he didn't look far enough away, and he could see how serious her expression was. Her words struck deeper than that twisting pain he felt when he believed she was gone, at the knowledge that he was still viewed as a monster. Just as well. He was one. And he often didn't feel remorse about it, either.
This, he felt a stab of remorse over and it bled afterward. She was not merely someone he was in love with, but he used her as an excuse. She never should have been caught up with him in the first place. Everything else, though? He felt little to nothing over the other actions around what he did. If left to his own devices, without stones bound to him, he would do it again and again and again. Everything but tell Darcy, or bring Darcy with him. He would never make that mistake, again.
His words were as softly spoken as the gentle way he was holding her hand, "It isn't as though I wanted to do that? I thought it was to protect everyone, and my brother. I do apologize. To you. And you are well within your rights to cast me aside, if you wish to. No one will fault you at this juncture. You have no such allegiance to me, now."
Although he wanted her, he knew he had few alliegences, few ties that would bind. Her. Thor. Mother. Other than that, Loki didn't have friends. He was a bad friend as it was, because he lied. To those around him, and to himself.
When he came to take her hand, she felt how his fingers tighten and released at what she was saying. She came to exhale deeply. “Loki… I’m not the one you should be apologizing too.” She stated as she brought her hand up to touch the side of his face for the moment. She gave him a faint smile. “But you learned from your mistakes, and are trying to do the right thing now. That’s what matters to me” She said softly as she rubbed his knuckles.
“You’re also right, I could get up and walk away from you. Be done with you.” She said looking at him.” But you have this pull that is drawing me towards you. I want to be around you. It’s hard to explain, it’s like.. I’m meant to be in your life. “ She said with a shrug of her shoulders.
“So don’t fuck it up.”
He might not have very many friends. He might be a compulsive liar, and a cheat, and a usurper. But Loki still had a sense of home. Home for him was once a place he wanted to rule, because he thought himself the most qualified. It wasn't. After he lost everything, home became other people. Not Odin, although he felt at peace more so with the All-father than before, no longer like the petulant son paraded in chains to be thrown into a dungeon for his bad deeds.
It was his mother, and brother, and Darcy that were his home now. Now that Asgard was gone, they were all he had left. So Darcy saying she felt like she was still meant to be in his life was elating to say the least.
At the touch of her hand to his cheek he smiled That pull toward her was what set his hand to move, so he could grasp her hand and hold it tight.
"I feel much the same," he confessed, and there was a shrug of one of his own shoulders. "I can endeavor not to, but I may foul things up from time to time. I will try my best not to hurt you, nor abuse your trust, in such a manner again. For feel the same, drawn to you. I know you do not know me, but I'm hoping that might change. For when I thought I lost you....I'd rather avoid feeling like that. Ever again."
After a long moment he tried to smile, and it was less practiced and more genuine.
“Then get to know me. I don’t know if the other Darcy and me are the same or if we have things different. That’s for you to learn.” She said taking his hand in hers as she smiled softly in his direction. “And I’ll be sure to point out, when you’re being an ass.” She stated as she poked at his chest with her toe, that yes, still rested over his lap this entire time.
Darcy had no idea what the other version of her was like, and she wasn’t going to ask him. Because that was 1) painful for anyone to dredge up and 2) it was weird to her. She just hopped in her own way, she was able to stand out, in different ways than the other Darcy.
"I'll count on you to do so," was Loki's reply, as he was poked. With her toe no less. A perfect way to describe their rather odd dichotomy. Nothing about it made much sense. Or perhaps it did, which was a thought that finally, suddenly, occurred to him.
Darcy always said she was nothing, that she felt overlooked by others and gave but never got back anything in return. As a result, she didn't fit. She was quirky, funny, obnoxious, sarcastic....
He always felt overlooked by others, that he somehow never fit in with others besides his mother, and when he found out why, his dramatic and temperamental tendencies went a bit...overboard. As a result, he became dramatic, sarcastic, bitter, caustic....
Really, they were two lonely pieces of everyone else's puzzle that did not fit like they were supposed to. But they fit together quite nicely, outside of that. Thus proving, in his mind, that conformity was rather overrated.
He pinched her prodding toe with his other hand. He liked this Darcy the way she was, just as much as he liked the old one. But Darcy was now seemed lighter and more open. He knew the reason why, of course, and why he would need to be more cautious to make sure she stayed that way.
"I am up to the task if you are. For I have already learned you are the Darcy that is unburdened," was his judicious reply. "All I need do now is make certain I do not burden you in such a manner, ever again."
Darcy giggled a bit when he pinched her toe. She was also pretty sure if Loki didn't burden her, Tony, Jane of Thor would. Just because of who they were.
His drink held out to him. “I am.” She replied easily as she brushed her hair back. That smile played over her features easily as she came to have blue eyes watch him closely.
“Come on.” is all she said coming to a stand and holding her hand out to take his. “Walk me back to work.” Darcy might have been done working but she wasn't done taking care of Jane and Tony.