Re: Tergiversate
Queen of Asgard; her place. Established and confirmed fact. Moving on... Astrid was a masterpiece. Moving on... Thor did not like the idea of Nate being their wrecking ball. Right, of course. And he hadn't been. Nothing had been wrecked, per se, anyway. Things just weren't as great as they could be, and that was frustratingly miserable, knowing they could be better and doing nothing to change them. Zap kept herself from stepping toward Thor when she saw his eyes tear up, though. She stood still but offered a saddened expression that was the result of the guilt she was keeping hidden throughout her body. "If it makes you feel any better, he kept me at arm's length for a very long time. And vice versa." Utmost professional potato.
And then he said 'the man you love the most' and her stomach turned sour and Zap's frown increased into a grave expression. She felt tears then, too, and averted her eyes for a few moments while she gathered her thoughts.
"What if we don't give up?" Bear with her. "If we're going to keep our positions intact," king and queen, respectively, "and our marriage," which was the first time she'd confirmed her agreement to his request, "we can keep trying if we open things completely. If we allow others in - like we spoke about before Astrid came," so, the joke about Sif five minutes earlier. "Neither of us is anything but dutiful. And proud. There wouldn't be any threat to our positions or our family; no jealousy. You know how dedicated I am to..." she gestured around her, feeling a little more energetic than she had yet that day. "This. No one can come between us, in that regard."
Say it: "Then maybe we can work on us, too." If the pressure was off, who knew? Or they could come to realize it was never going to happen, romantically. "I want to try." And that was progress for the woman who hadn't wanted to share a bed with the king hours earlier. She could try.