Loki (fiorvalr) wrote in noexits, @ 2022-04-21 10:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread/narrative, marvel (tv/movies): loki laufeyson, marvel (tv/movies): sharon carter, → week 035 (canon puncture) |
CANON PUNCTURE | DAY 2
Loki stood in the center of the small room in Armitage Hall. It had been the former office of some educator the likes of whom no one had seen in years. Possibly centuries. Or maybe they’d never even existed at all. Loki had removed most of the furniture; shoved it into an unused classroom so he could have an open space to work with. He did keep one single section of bookshelves on the far fall to the right of the window because Loki liked leaving a little bit of the academia vibe. Loki also needed a place to stash his collection of books since his bedroom was the size of a broom closet. Also, he didn’t want Eliot trying to steal any of his literature. Not that it was all literature in the classical sense of the word. Many of the books in his possession were purchased at a Barnes & Noble in Orlando. But Loki had recovered them in leatherbound glamours to give them the impression of being old and notable.
Feel free to ignore that copy of Fifty Shades of Grey. He’d picked it up on a whim because it had been on the bestseller charts. He would not classify it as being worthy of a bestseller. But he wasn’t going to leave a gap on the shelf.
Beds were difficult to come by in Derleth. Mattresses even more so. But thankfully Loki had the gift of magic to help him make some simple adjustments to other pieces of furniture. Essentially he’d collected the cushions of numerous unused sofas across campus and reconfigured them together to make a sort of floor mattress. The sheets he’d saved from New York. Stolen from a posh hotel room, to be precise. But Loki had to alter the color to match this new theme. Peacock was the inspiring motif. Dark blues, vibrant greens, and delicate wisps of gold, accented in all the right places. He’d even changed the wallpaper from its drab collegiate brown to a rich, feather-like pattern of interwoven hues. It was embossed, as well, with something that felt like velvet, but that was part of the illusion. He had to make do with a combination of real and imaginary. At least until they went to a world that offered actual interior design materials.
The point was that Loki was doing his best. And he wasn’t merely doing what he wanted. Whether intentionally or not—he would probably say not but Mobius would know otherwise—he had taken Sharon’s opinion into consideration. In fact, all things considered, there was more blue in the room than there was green.
But the green stood out more.
Loki took a step back and tapped a finger on his chin. The room was missing something. But what was it? He wandered over to a small side table which held a stack of interior design books borrowed from the library and picked up a glass of red wine he’d forgotten about. Was it the middle of the day? Yes. But time had no meaning in Derleth. And Loki was nothing but dramatic. Besides, it helped distract him from the fact that his mother’s funeral was replaying on half the television screens on campus. He took a sip.
Ah, yes! Curtains. It was supposed to be moody and atmospheric, after all. It was supposed to be romantic. Derleth’s poor excuse for fake sunshine wasn’t helping the mood. He waved a hand, a green glow emanating from his fingertips, and suddenly the room was plunged in a more gothic shade of darkness, illuminated only by the few lights Loki had placed in the corners.
Much better.
Thank goodness for a week in the void with, knock on wood, no oddness yet. It was of course early in the week yet, so that could change and Sharon had been in Delerth long enough to not count on anything as settled. This was both the sort of uncertainty that she was used to living with at home, but was also frustrating. At home, she had found ways to lessen uncertainty and create some control, but Delerth - even with all the work that she, Mobius, and others had done - was a bit more challenging in that regard. The only true certainty seemed to be change, and perhaps that made the notion of exploring any sort of relationship with Mobius both genuinely appealing and also batshit crazy.
The appealing part, naturally, was Mobius himself. He was steady and curious, attractive, and attentive. And in a world where things could and did change by the hour, it was maybe no wonder that she'd been pulled in by those qualities.
The batshit crazy part was the fact that by pursuing anything with Mobius, she was automatically entangled with Mobius' other partner just a little. And that other partner? God of mischief and destroyer of New York once upon a time. Sharon hadn't forgotten. She wasn't sure if she'd forgiven, but she'd not been lying when she'd told Loki she wasn't always nice, and considering her own activities at home. Well, complicated. Crazy.
And working out exactly how the two of them would interact, how she and Mobius worked, and how all the pieces fit together was also a bit complicated. Hopefully, not crazy, because she genuinely liked Mobius.
Sharon had come by Armitage Hall in the hopes that she'd find Mobius, but what she'd found instead was a familiar glow of green light and she paused. She could have just gone back to Butler, or gone on to find some coffee at the cafeteria maybe, but instead she decided to go and see what Loki was up to. Say hi. Be friendly-ish. Maybe. He'd surprised her earlier, and maybe she was going to have to reassess further than she already had simply because she knew how much Mobius cared for him.
She knocked on the door, and punctuated opening it with a "Wow."
Well, Loki was doing exactly what Loki said he was going to do. He was creating a room where they could have some privacy. In truth, Loki didn’t know why he hadn’t done it sooner. Perhaps because he wasn’t actually with anyone. And since he and Mobius had formalized their relationship, it had been one nonstop shitstorm after another. Likewise, before the recent change to Butler Hall, most of Loki’s companions, as they were, had their own rooms. So privacy wasn’t an issue. And as much as Loki was glad that everyone else finally had to suffer the misfortune he’d had literally since day two in Derleth, he did often crave a place where he could spend time with Mobius without worrying that somebody would walk in on them.
Not that Loki cared. But he knew Mobius did. And now that Mobius had someone else he desired an intimate location for, well, it made sense that Loki made the time to create a space. Even if it wasn’t just for himself. Maybe specifically because it wasn’t just for himself. He knew he wasn’t exactly the benevolent sort. He knew he had a rough edge and gave most people a bad impression. He was selfish and distrustful and conniving, after all. And while this wasn’t about making Sharon feel welcome—Loki would never go that far—it was about showing Mobius that he could be cordial.
And that he could share.
Which was no doubt a question on everyone’s mind.
“He’s not here,” Loki said without looking towards the door. He recognized the footsteps of most people on campus. Everyone who’d been around long enough, at least. And no one else would have a reason to be up on this floor of Armitage Hall. Clearly, she was looking for Mobius.
He took another sip of wine and then set the glass back down on the table. He expected to hear her leave, but she didn’t. So, he craned his neck towards the door and stared at her with a slightly annoyed, but also idly curious gaze. “I’m still not entirely convinced by the blue.”
Lie. But the conversation had to start somewhere.
"So I determined," she returned, with the slightly amused note to her voice that somehow seemed to come naturally every time she ended up in a conversation with Loki. Maybe it was the strangeness of it? She'd never really imagined that she might need to actually interact with him on a regular basis. The universe was vast, and he'd never been in her circles: until he was.
She took the comment as an invitation, whether it was or not and she stepped in to actually stare at the space. Two thoughts jumped to her mind immediately, one - maybe this was crazy, but could actually be a perk, because this was on the level of what Strange had done with the pools, and was way beyond anything she could have come up with in this space - even if mini-IKEA had still been around. And two? He'd used her suggestion of navy blue. Which made for surprise number two for the week. Or was it three? Losing track of how many times he'd surprised her already.
She turned a complete three sixty, and stepped over so she was next to him and tilted her head up, curious. "The blue is the perfect neutral for this color scheme. It's dark and moody, it keeps with the academic atmosphere of the place - how many navy blue school uniforms are there out in the world? - without being boring. And both the green and the gold stand out more than they would against either another shade of green, or heaven forbid industrial beige. Are you sure about the pattern on the walls though? It's a little busy?"
Loki frowned, forehead furrowing in contemplation as Sharon explained her thoughts on the blue. His lips pursed and he canted his head to the side, looking at the room through the veil of her description. Loki didn’t know much about school uniforms, but he did know about elegance. That’s why he knew the green and gold would suit each other. Just as he knew blue and gold would be equally as stunning. But he was struggling to find a reference point where they all worked in unison.
Or maybe the problem was personal. Maybe it was just blue in general. He always associated blue with his mother. And with her face—and her subsequent death—continuously popping up on television screens across campus, his thoughts were a little distracted.
“Hm.” Loki reached out and placed his hand on the wall. He could feel through the illusion to the hideous truth underneath, but he still liked the embossed impression of the glamoured paper. She may have been right though. Perhaps it was a tad bit distracting.
A brilliant green spread out from his palm and swept across the walls in a wave. Within seconds the intricate design was gone, replaced with a matte navy. Flat. Loki thought it was boring, but at least it was better than beige.
But now there was too much blue. So he adjusted the hue of the pillows to green, giving the space a little more balance.
“Better? Or would you like a matching bathrobe, as well?”
"Absolutely, I haven't had a bathrobe since Madripoor," she quipped, knowing Loki was being cheeky on purpose. "You can put a gold hook on the back of the door, one for each of us. You should definitely monogram them."
Okay, the multiple colors had felt too busy, but Sharon agreed with Loki, which if she'd known would have been the fourth surprise of the day, but the matte navy was too little, and she wrinkled up her nose. The green on the pillows helped, and the colors felt balanced, but…
"What about the embossed texture, but all one color?" Even when one was used to the idea of magic, she wasn't used to seeing it so easily applied. And it could, if she were the sort of person who got insecure, easily lead one to ask why Mobius was remotely interested in regular human Sharon, when he had the interest of a god that could create a space like this in a morning, on a whim.
Loki raised a brow at the idea of monogrammed bathrobes. At first he looked irritated, but this was quickly covered with a knowing smirk. The sort that seemed to suggest that Sharon ought to be careful what she asked for. Because he might go so far as to conjure up bathrobes just to be saucy and impudent. Or, more likely, just to prove he could. “Only if they’re silk. I refuse to be caught in cotton-polyester blends.”
He watched her face carefully as she observed the change in the room. And when he caught a glimpse of her expression scrunching up at the walls, he almost did get annoyed. For a very heated second he looked like he might actually do something violent if she insulted his work. Thankfully, she didn’t. She merely reinforced that he had already been on the right track in the first place.
As Loki knew he had been.
His expression relaxed. That glimmer of anger gone in an instant. “So demanding. Didn’t anyone ever tell you no as a child?”
Loki snapped his fingers and the walls reverted back to the original design. But instead of two toned hues between the flat and velvet texture, it was all one color. Okay, he had to admit that looked quite chic.
Then he made his way back to the table and poured her a glass of wine as well. Was it a peace offering? Perhaps. Or maybe it was a trick. That was up to her to decide. Either way he held it out to her, not unlike a snake offering an apple. “If we’re making this a joint effort then we should at least be on the same page. I’m already half a glass in, but I can wait for you to catch up.”
Sharon made a face. "Absolutely silk, because let's be honest, Mobius would just accept the cotton-polyester, we've got to look out for him here."
And because despite herself, and despite her ability to get by on very little in the middle of nowhere, Sharon might have gotten a bit of a taste for nice things, and she liked the looks of those sheets. Sure, furs had been nice, but those sheets? It would have been a flat out lie to say she wasn't considering slipping into them with Mobius beside her. Loki had good taste - rich taste - but what else would you expect from a Prince, and why would she complain about this if he was sharing it?
She glanced at the offered glass, gaze flickering up to Loki's face for a heartbeat as she admittedly tried to decide if she was going to take it or not. In the end, she did. Peace offering or trick, she was going to take a chance on the notion that Loki did genuinely care about Mobius and tentatively put it into peace offering category. "Please don't wait on my account. Mere human constitution and all that, I don't want to be too demanding," she smirked over her shoulder at him as she stepped over towards the bookshelves. Her lips turned up into a smallish smile that gave away the fact that she really liked them.
She lifted the wine to her lips to take a sip. "Candles, maybe? Or… what's the extent of your magic? I never really read those SHIELD files," she admitted, and curiosity crept in. "I'm imagining a gold chandelier over the bed that can be dimmed or brightened depending… but most of this is…" she stopped, not really knowing what the best word was to use to describe it. "A glamor of some sort?"
Loki laughed. Honest amusement. “He would. You have no idea how frustrating it’s been trying to undo a thousand years of bad fashion sense. That gods awful brown suit. Whenever I see it I want to gag.”
That wasn’t entirely true. If anyone could pull off that cheap polyester blend, then it was Mobius. But Loki hated the look. It didn’t feel like it matched the Mobius he’d come to know. And he associated it with the people who had stolen Mobius’s life from him.
That suit needed to be taken out back and burned.
Unfortunately for Mobius—as was for all of them—it would just return in a week.
Loki brought his glass to his lips but didn’t drink. He was watching her attentively now. He saw how her expression changed. How her eyes traveled over the room. Was she pleased? He thought she was. He didn’t see any disappointment in her gaze. And she did hesitate a little longer when she looked at the bed. That gave Loki a swell of pride. He hadn’t intended on impressing her, but her seeming satisfaction did give him some unexpected joy.
“By all means, lie down. Try it out. Let me know if it meets your standards.” This time there was a mocking hint to his tone. But it was playful. Not derisive. Then she smiled at the bookcase and Loki felt relieved.
This could have gone much more poorly.
“I can do candles. Magical ones are better. Their flames don’t expire and the wax doesn’t melt. But I know there are real ones in the theatre. I can do a chandelier but you’d need me to be here in person if you want it dimmed. And I don’t think we’re quite there yet.” He winked. Then he stepped over to the bed, running his fingers over the smooth sheets. “Is there an extent to my magic?”
Loki shrugged. “Most of it is an illusion. Some of it is real. I can change some physical things permanently. Pillows and such are simple. It helps if there’s a construction to start with. The major problem is the reset. I don’t know if this will last. I may have to rebuild it every week.”
He took a large sip, finishing off the rest of his wine. And then it was time to segue. “How serious are you about Mobius? What is it for you? Is it just for fun or is it something more?”
Sharon laughed.
“That’s at least one of the reasons why it's so much fun to rid him of it,” she turned back to offer Loki a smile. At least this was a place where the agreement wasn’t a surprise at all - unlike some of the things that had surprised her more. The wine was decent, and she took another sip before turning back to the shelves wondering if the covers were another illusion.
But she was curious about the magic. She hadn’t read those SHIELD files, for one thing they hadn’t been for her. And she’d never really had any reason to interact with Loki at all. She had never really spent much time around Thor either, but she had spent more time around that brother. Her main memories of Loki weren’t even of him. It was New York, and SHIELD, and what had followed. And whenever she’d seen Loki in images, he’d looked devious, or haunted, or maybe both.
And perhaps she’d given him a wide berth when she’d first arrived. But she had to admit that the man in the room with her at this moment didn’t remind her much of those photos. And a half memory of agreeing to go on a supply run with him during that week of silence, the week she and Bucky had lost Steve, and she wondered if she’d slipped up, would Loki have stepped in?
“As much as I like the aesthetic of dripping wax, magical ones are probably less likely to set the hall on fire too, and I can’t say I fancy the idea of creating another monolith because I had sex and burned the hall down — borders a little on WB teenage morality TV episode for me.” She turned around, took another sip of the wine, and leaned back against the shelves which seemed solid enough. “It sounds as if we should save the chandelier idea for a future date. Maybe we’ll get somewhere with a Home Depot.”
She looked over at him, and took another sip of the wine. He had said she needed to catch up with him. Sharon wasn’t certain if she was surprised by the more personal question or not. But she shook her head. “I like Mobius; beyond that, we’re still answering that question. What about you?”
Although Loki had never really thought about it, he’d given Sharon quite a bit of distance too. He tried to do that with people who knew him from his universe. Like Matt, for example, until they were roommates. (And truthfully even after they were.) Loki knew he had a reputation and he knew it wasn’t good. And the memory of New York was fresh in most people’s minds. Even his own. So it was always a delicate balance of treading carefully. Sometimes it was better just to avoid those people altogether.
But it wasn’t a conversation Sharon had ever brought up with him. So Loki couldn’t exactly judge where she fell on the ‘Do I Like Loki or Merely Tolerate Him?’ scale. And Loki was too cowardly to ask.
Besides, now that she was in a relationship with Mobius—or whatever it was—time would tell.
Loki smirked at the notion of her having sex and creating another monolith. Honestly? That story might be worth having another monolith on campus. And he had to give her credit. Sharon was funny. It was a dry, semi-sardonic humor, but Loki liked it. That kind of comedy required a wry wit and intelligence. Not that he thought otherwise of her, he’d just never thought of her. He was impressed.
And he wasn’t easily impressed.
“Here stands the Armitage Monolith, born of Sharon’s reckless act of fornication. This, children, is why candles have been banished from the land.” Loki set his empty glass back down and refilled it. But he left it on the table in order to follow her towards the bookshelf. Because invading people’s personal space was another Loki tactic. And he was curious how she’d react.
He leaned against the bookcase like he was posing for a catalogue. Hip canted, head lolled slightly to the side. With a stare so unwavering it teetered between threatening and catatonic. “I like Mobius, too.”
Loki’s gaze wandered downward. He was looking at her more specifically now. Perhaps looking for whatever it was Mobius saw in her physically. Perhaps sizing her up for a bathrobe.
“Beyond that?” He shrugged. “I don’t know what’s beyond that.”
Sharon laughed, genuinely amused by the way he took her words and spun them into a bedtime story, albeit not one that sounded actually appropriate for any children. It was that flare for the dramatic, she supposed, attention grabbing but that wasn’t necessarily bad, and in this particular moment she was smiling. “For the sake of the candles and birthday cakes,” she answered his story with a slight bow. “I will not restrain from fornication mind you, but perhaps will concede magical candles, please.”
She twisted the glass of wine in her hand, watching him move in on her.
In another moment or time she might have found an excuse to slip away, but for now she found herself staying put, just turning the glass of wine. Not unlike, ironically, she had when Mr Tesseract had invaded her space. Loki was taller though, leaner, less unnerving generally although the potential was there, and certainly the gaze bordered on it.
“I should hope you do,” she returned back at him, taking a sip of wine again. “He clearly likes you.”
It was hardly the first time Sharon had been looked over and it wouldn’t be the last. Admittedly, if she’d been planning on her physical attributes being considered she might have put on her fifties dress, a pair of heels to show off her legs, and a touch of lipstick rather than the deeply practical jeans, tshirt, and jacket that she’d slipped on this morning.
She wasn’t sure that she believed him. But she didn’t push it, for now. After all she’d definitely resisted any honesty to his question and while most of that was simply not knowing, there was also just not really knowing him - and that worked both ways.
“It’s hard to think of much of a ‘beyond’ when everything resets,” she shrugged easily, as if she wasn’t thinking about the fact that it had been weeks since Steve was there. That others had disappeared and she’d watched the comings and goings mostly as if it didn’t matter, but Mobius had settled Into a ‘it would’. “Hopefully not this,” she added, glancing around and bouncing away from the harder thoughts.
Loki’s posture relaxed more when Sharon took his joke in stride. She had a pleasant laugh. It didn’t take much for him to imagine the way Mobius probably looked at her when she smiled. Or when her voice resounded with that joyful ring of amusement. In another place or time perhaps even he could have sought refuge in that sound. But that was the funny thing about chance happenings and missed meetings. There were a million different directions a person could go in and a million different ways for that path to go right … or wrong.
“Mobius doesn’t like me. Mobius loves me,” Loki said, but not with arrogance or pride in his voice. He wasn’t trying to lord that over Sharon. If anything he said it with a kind of solemn wariness. With a worried uncertainty. “I have on numerous occasions warned him about that, but he doesn’t listen. I don’t exactly have a good track record where deep emotions are concerned. I play everything either too close to the chest or at arm’s length. I only hope that doesn’t end poorly for him.”
Or for himself. But in a surprising turn of recent events, Loki has been putting himself second.
He made a thoughtful ‘hmm’ing sound when she brought up the resets and their impermanence in this place. She wasn’t wrong. Loki had spent countless hours dwelling on what it meant to relive every week in the same physical condition but with the persistent and unpredictable emotional traumas they acquired every week. He hadn’t quite landed on a coping mechanism. Ignoring it, however, was failing him.
“I think since we’re going to be sharing the same bedsheets with each other that we should have a serious moment of earnestness between us, Miss Carter.” Loki pushed himself off the bookcase and took a step backwards in order to give her back some of her own private space. “I want you to know that despite my provocative language and flights of persnickety jests, I do not consider this a competition. I have no intention of interfering with you and Mobius, regardless of the feelings the two of you may or may not come to have for each other.”
He ran his fingers back through his hair, shaking the lengthier strands over his shoulders so they weren’t framing his face quite so harshly.
“I’m actually glad for this. I’ve been honest with Mobius. As honest as I am capable of being with another person. But I have not been entirely forthcoming with him. We are all of us aware of the intangibility of time in Derleth. People are here one moment and gone the next. For most of us it’s a sad loss, but we can be comforted in the fact that our friends have returned home. To their worlds. Their timelines. Their futures.” Loki paused. “I don’t have that luxury. And I know as certainly as I stand here that when I disappear, it will be for good.”
Loki raised his gaze to meet hers. “I don’t want Mobius to be alone if that happens. I want him to have someone else. Someone who will look after him better than I ever could. Because he deserves that.”
And because I love him.
Loki drew his fingers across the bed sheets. Slowly the stitching, delicate little wisps of thread, turned to gold. It was a tiny unnecessary detail, but it gave the center of the room more focus and allowed the wallpaper to sink naturally into the background.
“And he clearly likes you.”
Sharon dipped her head in a singular nod at Loki's pronouncement. It wasn't a surprise. After all she was trained to pick up on small details, and she and Mobius had been working together for weeks now. She knew. And even when she hadn't been entirely certain about what the relationship was, it had also been one of the reasons she'd not said anything. Maybe not the only one - after all Sharon didn't exactly have a long and illustrious history of successful relationships either - but knowing how Mobius felt about Loki? That was clear enough.
What had been less clear, and not for any lack of her paying more attention than she had wanted to admit to even herself, was whether that attachment was returned. Loki was tricky to figure out, even when she'd felt herself shift from avoidance to observation: All those jests, and so many dramatics. But the answer seemed to have shifted into place now.
She let out a breath, and then lifted the glass and finished off the rest of the wine, and met Loki's gaze.
For a moment she couldn't quite keep from thinking how absolutely bizarre this entire situation was. She was here of her own accord, and she had no regrets about being here, which in some ways only seemed to shore up how strange the whole thing was. But at the same time, she would never in a million years have thought that she would willingly take on a relationship with someone who was in love with someone else, however you wanted to define whatever it was that they had. And watching Loki right now she could see what Mobius might see in him, underneath the dark good looks and heavily applied surface charm, there was something… genuine and it deserved something equally truthful.
"I've guessed for a while how Mobius felt about you," she took a step forward and left her empty glass of wine on the table. "And I'm not interested in interrupting or damaging that in any way. Love is a word that's loaded with all sorts of implications, and that's not where Mobius and I are, but do I want his happiness? Yes. And you make him happy."
She lifted her hand to push her hair behind her ear and tilted her head, surprised to realize that what she was about to say was true, New York notwithstanding. "Which is to say, I suppose, that I don't want anything like the scenario you mention, but he wouldn't be alone through it. And neither would he, should Delerth twist in a different way." She paused. "And neither would we. I guess that's how this works now."
The gold threading through the sheet gave her an excuse to look elsewhere, to consider if there was anything else she needed to say before the wind shifted, but nothing felt defined enough to follow through with.
"I think that's perfect though." The threading, because perfect might be too much weight to place on whatever this was and Sharon was just not that optimistic in her life these days. But from a practical perspective, the potential pros seemed to perhaps hold more weight than the potential cons.
And neither would we.
A single brow lifted upward.
We.
Loki wasn’t entirely certain how to interpret that. He knew it didn’t mean what it sounded like. They may have both had a common point of interest tying them together, but they themselves were not together. And if Mobius were to disappear from Derleth—thrown back into his timeline with the TVA and the variant version of himself that Loki had spent months despising for no reason—Loki doubted he and Sharon would have any commonalities between them anymore. They could become friends, perhaps. That was a possibility. Maybe they’d share a moment of grief in some form or another. But Loki had difficulty seeing them as a we without Mobius.
But Loki would probably have that difficulty with anyone else on campus at this point. This relationship, the one he’d committed himself to but was still afraid to give a name, had already buried itself too deep in his soul for him to come out unscathed. If anything happened now there’d be no hope for Loki. Perhaps no hope for anyone left in the wake of his loss.
But he wasn’t going to think about that now. Besides, she’d just granted him the ultimate compliment. Perfect. There was no way he was going to let that go without soaking it up for all it was worth.
“Of course, it is. It’s all perfect. Every bit of it. It was planned that way. What do you take me for? Jackson Pollock? I’m not just throwing paint at the wall and hoping it sticks.” Loki grinned. Any solemnity or concern was wiped from his features. Replaced by the over-the-top, slightly obnoxious sense of smugness that he was known for. “But I’m so glad we got that dreary part of the conversation out of the way. I was positively dreading it. You know how Midgardians can be. Always getting so out of sorts when someone pushes one of their ducks out of the row. I suppose that makes you slightly superior where the average human is concerned.”
He cast a sidelong smirk in her direction while she distracted her gaze with the bedding. “We’re going to need a code word though. Or a symbol. So we don’t interrupt each other, that is. Granted, I don’t need one. I’m perfectly content with sharing. It might be a tight squeeze with three, but it’s not like we’d be sleeping. And someone is bound to be on top. We could get creative with it.”
He paused long enough for his words to sink in. Then he winked. “But I imagine we’re sticking to pairs for the time being. So you should come up with a way to prevent me from accidentally wandering in while it’s your turn.”
To a certain point Sharon had left it open to interpretation on purpose, because they were all just exploring paths at this point. But she was realizing that even without Mobius, there probably was still whatever this was right here in this room; and beyond that, if she cared about Mobius, then there was a certain inclination to care about something he would, or someone. And New York still lingered in an as yet unexplored area of discussion between the two of them. This man didn't remind her much of those pictures, but this man had been those pictures, and whatever had pushed him to that destruction - the possibility lingered, and ever the information gatherer, and strategic planner, Sharon was too practical to ignore that. But that was a future path, and one she wasn't anxious for any of them to walk down, and one that if maybe what Mobius and the others had been working on actually held - would be completely avoidable for any of them.
She could hope.
Instead, her lips turned up in a smirk at his reaction. She might not resist being referred to as 'slightly superior' even if it was pure flattery, but she also couldn't just walk out on that note. "God, you're so arrogant. I know I just finished saying that I wasn't going to get in the middle of you and Mobius, or whatever, but I think I'll remind him you need some spanking to keep you humble and grounded."
And yes, the smirk suggested the word choice was absolutely on purpose.
"I'm flattered that you'd think about inviting me, but I'm not sure Mobius is ready for both of us at once. What about a good old fashioned 'do not disturb' door hanger circa 1983 Honolulu? I think I might have stolen one. I can even turn it around to 'please make up the room' when we're done so you'll know when you can come clean up." The winds had turned, and now she was back to quips and how had he phrased it? Persnickety jests? She could play that game too.
Loki was well aware that the New York conversation would have to come up eventually. It was inevitable. And he did owe it to her. He owed it to anyone from the Midgard of his universe, really, although he very often played it off like it was nothing. He did not think it was nothing. It was a weight on his soul he couldn’t—and rightfully shouldn’t—remove. But it wasn’t easy for him to think about. Because it was, quite literally, the summation of his failures. His failures as a brother, as a son, as a rightful king, as an Asgardian. And it would follow him around forever. The trouble with talking about New York, however, was that there was no apology he could offer that would be suitable. No words that would take away the horrendous loss so many people felt that day. And Loki knew that.
So, he, too, was not looking forward to that conversation. Necessary as it might be. Thankfully, however, now was not the time for it.
At the word ‘spanking’, both of Loki’s brows went up and his smile beamed from ear to ear. To say he was amused was an understatement. He was positively stunned that she would say such a thing. Although, in hindsight he would wonder why he was so surprised. Maybe it was because she looked so sweet and dainty. Even a little innocent. Talk about judging a book by its cover. Loki clearly didn’t know Sharon well at all. And he obviously had a twisted sense of the type of person Mobius would be interested in.
Loki had wrongly assumed that after him, Mobius would want someone a little less … insubordinate. Less … challenging.
But she didn’t stop there. She went further. And Loki cut off a laugh with a scoffing huff of air. Hands went to his hips defensively. “I beg your pardon? I am no one’s housemaid. You and Mobius can wash the sheets on your own, thank you very much. Pity you’ll have to do it the old fashioned way. Oh, and for the record, I only use all natural powder deodorants on my linens. None of that liquid soap. It’s horrible on my skin. Also, if you could turn the bed down after you make it, that would be lovely. And I love a little dark chocolate on my pillow. You know, for afterwards. It’s like a little treat for a job well done.”
Loki was hardly the first person (although possibly the first god?) that had made inaccurate assumptions about Sharon's ability to challenge someone. The girl next door could be wielded as armor just as well as any Asgardian illusion and over the years Sharon had turned being overlooked, or assumed sweet into a super power of her own. Perhaps they both had a few inaccurate assumptions about each other to clear up.
Regardless, his reaction was priceless. "Now who's being demanding?" But Sharon was laughing again. She pressed her lips together in a smile, and glanced around the room, taking in the colors and the textures, and the way that it felt like some place she could be comfortable, which hadn't been something she'd anticipated - exactly. As it turned out, she was looking forward to finding a quiet moment with Mobius here in the hopefully very near future. Despite the fact that Loki had done all the work and she'd only made a few suggestions, he had incorporated those suggestions and she'd assumed he might completely blow past them. So yes, there were a few assumptions that could be shifted. And while she might not be leaving chocolates on his pillow, cleaning up when she and Mobius were done was only fair, and teasing aside, she wouldn't have dreamed of doing otherwise.
She turned back to level a gaze on him. "So am I hearing a yes on the door sign or a, we should go a different direction? Maybe we should see what Mobius thinks?"
“Yes, well, I’m a prince. And a king. And a god. And a villain. It’s my job to be demanding.” But the words and the expression were nothing but playful. Loki was enjoying this. He didn’t expect to. He didn’t anticipate this. And he wondered how Sharon had managed to stay off of his radar all of this time. Because she was actually quite intriguing. And she could keep up! Most people couldn’t. Mobius could. That had surprised Loki as well in the beginning. And this conversation reminded him of his early chats with the former TVA agent. Back when Loki was suspicious and didn’t expect much of him.
It was giving him an extreme sense of deja vu. But he liked it. He was glad that he could have this kind of banter with Sharon. It would make their future interactions all the more easier. And it might even soften him to her as well.
Might. No guarantees. Loki was nothing but fickle in every sense of the word.
“I like the door sign idea. It’s quaint. A tad antiquated, but your species is known for being rather behind the rest of us, so I can’t blame you there. It’ll be cute. I’ll design something specifically with you in mind. To match the bathrobes.” Loki winked. “And I think we should leave it as a surprise for Mobius. Imagine the look on his face when you tell him that we came up with it together. On second thought, the shock might send him into cardiac arrest. You better ease him into it slowly. There’s no telling how old he is, after all.”
Loki wandered over to the glass he’d left untouched on the side table. He picked it up, swirled the contents around the rim, and then took a sip. “Which, by the way, is me politely offering you the first run. Never let it be said that I am not a generous god.”
"The whole University is a tad antiquated," Sharon pointed out, shaking his head at his list of reasons to be demanding. She had no reason, other than perhaps the one where she was not signing up to be a sidekick in her own life. "The door sign will fit right in."
Once again she found herself wondering whether something was a trick or simply generosity, although she suspected with Loki it could be both. She tilted her head in his direction.
"Are you sure, Loki? You did all the work. I'm not going to say no, but at the same time, if you want to show it off…"
“I’ve already showed it off,” Loki said with a wink. “I showed it off to you.”
Besides, it wasn’t really Mobius who Loki was trying to impress with the room. (Was that a contradiction of his earlier thoughts?) Granted, yes, he wanted Mobius to be proud of his accomplishments. He wanted Mobius to be floored by the work Loki put into the room. He wanted him to be stunned into silence. But Mobius had seen Loki’s magic. He wasn’t surprised by it. Hel, Mobius has seen more of what Loki was capable of than Loki himself. Mobius already knew that Loki had skills.
Sharon didn’t. Or, at least, had never seen it up close. And he wanted her to know that he was including her in this. That he saw her as an equal partner in Mobius’s happiness.
Likewise, Loki was trying to prove himself to the both of them. Prove that the three of them doing what they were doing could be the most natural thing in the world. Prove that he wasn’t going to ruin it with petty jealousy. Prove that he could be kind and charming and thoughtful.
Which wasn’t easy to do when everyone saw you as the God of Mischief and Lies. Or when they remembered how you wrecked havoc on one of their most prominent cities. But he was doing his best.
He took another sip of wine and set the glass back down. “It’s all yours, Sharon. I insist. Accept the offer before I get frustrated and change my mind.”
Loki might be turning down the chance to see Mobius stunned into silence, but for the length of multiple heartbeats, Sharon was.
She had spent the last few years of her life not accepting anything at face value, everything was a favor given, or to be collected upon later on. It would have been easy enough to expect that from Loki. She rather suspected the SHIELD file she'd never had reason to memorize might back that notion up. She didn't want to owe a favor here, but she also didn't want to upset the balance. And maybe, if she wasn't sure she trusted Loki, she did think she trusted his feelings for Mobius. Taking the offer at face value, then, sat like a pair of shoes she'd once worn comfortably every single day, but now felt pinched. She was out of practice.
She was used to being overlooked and underestimated. She'd turned it into a strength rather than a weakness. It was one of the reasons she'd been able to do what she did. And it was just now occurring to her that she'd assumed this would be the same, that Loki would by and large ignore her, and she'd find time with Mobius in the margins. She'd assumed even that type of arrangement would be the best case scenario.
But this wasn't that.
She straightened her shoulders and lifted her head. "A dark teal robe please, with gold trim. Nothing too gaudy." A list of demands was easier than trying to figure out the way she couldn't quite name her emotion at the moment. But she softened it with a smile. "Maybe I'll leave a chocolate -- just this once."