Ask me again tomorrow

Part 8

A/N: Thank you all so much for 100 views!!!! 

Just to recap our favourite green bean has just been kicked in the balls for an unwanted advance. Unfortunately, he took the words 'bite me' a little too literally... Our leading lady is about to have another shock. I hope it's not going too fast!

Loki's POV

Never in all my life have I been happier to have fast healing. I was livid. I was pissed off at her and at myself. The pain faded. I had every right to have her executed. To have her tortured and killed but for some reason, I was being weak and I did nothing. I was too weak to do anything.

It shouldn't have gone that far. I should never have let my emotions get the better of me. She could play me like a fiddle. I don't know what I'd been thinking when I did it. I hadn't been thinking. That was the problem. My thoughtlessness had cost me and was going to continue to cost me.

She did something to me. I knew my mind was going in circles about her. Something in me changed when she started up like that. Primal, more animalistic than I should have behaved. I'd had plenty of women and men in my bed, but it was merely for release. It had always been one night of fun and then weeks of them avoiding eye contact. It had amused me. But now I was going to be the one avoiding her gaze. For the first time in hundreds of years, I was going to be embarrassed by my actions. I had regretted my actions and felt many other emotions about my deeds but today was the first time in centuries that I was embarrassed.

Thinking back I focused on details that sparked unknown emotions, like when she had moaned or sighed. The sounds tumbled together and I shook my head, trying to shake thoughts I shouldn't be having. I got up off the floor and walked out the door. I was going to take a leaf out of Thor's book and train until I was too tired to form emotions. Too tired to need stories to soothe the nightmares that would plague me.

Y/N POV

Thankfully I didn't see Loki for the rest of the day. I had bigger problems to deal with.... like the giant hickey on my neck.....and my period.....and the fact that I didn't have any concealer. This day couldn't get any worse. I dug through my wardrobe and thankfully found a dress that covered the majority of my neck.

That night I didn't sleep well. I kept waking up expecting to hear screams. Each time I woke I looked at the window to try to tell the time. I didn't see Loki and I didn't tell any stories. It didn't feel normal. Then again arguing with someone and then having them give you a hickey wasn't normal for me either. I woke up and looked in the bathroom mirror that morning. The hickey wasn't going anywhere. I pulled on the dress. I didn't feel great at the moment but I wrote it off as my body going through the various stages of period torture. After sleeping badly I felt tired, light-headed and sick. Composing myself I went into the hall. I was determined to act as though nothing had ever happened. Loki was sitting on the window seat, reading. He was up unusually early. Normally he would wake up a good hour after I did. He looked like he was waiting for me so naturally I walked straight past him and went about my morning chores. Most days unless there was something happening I would have the afternoons off and do all my work in the morning. I heard Loki start to speak but he quickly stopped and then started again.

"You're wearing a different dress to normal."

"So you're going to comment on how I dress now?" I tried to sound as normal as possible. I looked him dead in the eye and was amazed when he looked away for a second. He was uncomfortable. Realizing I'm a horrible person I decided to make it worse.

"Unfortunately I can't use my normal attire. It didn't meet today's needs." Without thinking I pulled back my collar showing the new markings on my neck. His eyes shuttered and flashed. I had done the wrong thing. He had been in touch with his primal instincts when it had happened yesterday. Showing him the stupid marks had doomed me. He probably thought it entitled him to me or some territorial bullshit. Ignoring the dangerous line I was walking along, I walked out.

After doing everything I possibly could to delay my return to the room I had to go back. Loki undoubtedly wasn't going to clean up after himself so that meant I had to make beds and fold towels. He was out again. I looked around the room... but... I blinked... Something... wasn't... right...

"She just didn't eat and so she fainted."

"She should have eaten. She should know how to take care of herself."

"Loki, you are hiding your concern with anger. Calm down. Now go. She will be fine."

Three days after I fainted and I hadn't seen Loki at all except every evening when I would tell him a story. We ignored each other otherwise and I wanted to keep it that way. The hickey was nearly gone. The bruising had faded for the most part and only a small area of skin was still blue. It was going but it was still obvious that it was a hickey.

I was walking down a corridor when someone walked up alongside me. Fandral. Ignoring him I sped up ever so slightly but he kept pace with me.

"What is a beautiful woman such as yourself doing in this part of the palace?"

"Currently? Walking away from a guy who's trying to get me with a crappy pickup line." I sighed as I realised that I was ages away from where I was trying to get. Yay, one stuck up playboy tag along. Wonderful.

As much as Thor was a lovely guy I often questioned his friends' behaviour. Sif was nice, slightly hostile but nice. We respected each other. Her for being as badass as she is and me for putting up with Loki for this long. Hogun was quiet and thoughtful, I didn't really spend enough time near him to grasp his full personality. Volstagg simply ate but he liked me because I would sometimes get him fresh pastries when I knew Loki was in a foul mood and wanted him to restrain Thor's joking. Fandral on the other hand was a flirt and slept around just as much as Loki. The fact that it had taken him this long to move onto me just showed how many people were in the palace.

"You're right it was bad. It usually works on most ladies but I see that you are no ordinary lady."

"Thank you but flattery won't work either." Poor guy, trying his hardest and getting nowhere.

"Of course you are probably a woman of taste who requires my best techniques and deserves to be showered with gifts."

"As tempting as that is you are failing to get anywhere with me."

"Oh. Is it because you prefer women?" I stop walking and laugh loudly.

"Darling I swing both ways but I still don't swing towards you." I walked off leaving him open-mouthed. That was certainly the meanest way I'd ever come out to someone. I'd had guys assume I was gay after their failed flirting attempts before but I turned them down because they suck at flirting. I turned Fandral down because I could see a wisp of Loki's astral projection flying above me and I had no intention of having to explain to Thor why one of his best friends was splattered against the floor.

I liked Thor. He was kind and jovial. And he tried his best to involve and accept Loki but sometimes it just didn't work. He was incredibly nice to me, not because of any feelings but just because his brother was a jerk and he thought I needed to see at least one kind face a day.

I slipped in through the door and through the hall and into my...

"And how is my brother's dear friend?"

"You were there too. I thought you were known for reading people."

"So you noticed me."

"It's hard not to notice a cloud of stuck up prick when he's floating above you. That's why I put him down so brutally. I didn't feel like having you splatter him across the walls. Believe me, Your Highness I am well aware of your rules for my love life. Every maid in the palace is aware of what would happen if I even entertained the thought." I shrugged. Love life in the palace was messy and would almost always end badly.

"I don't like other people trying to claim what is already mine," Loki growled.

"I am not yours, Your Highness, nor do I plan on being yours. If I was truly yours you wouldn't feel the need or have to state a claim on me. I find it amusing that you think that I belong to you." I wasn't going to listen to his nonsense any more than I had to. The convocation ended without any shouting or any more hickeys, thank the gods.

Later that day I went to Loki's room to tell him a story before I went to sleep. Something seemed to be slightly off but he often had these moments so I thought nothing of it. I sat on the bed as usual and was about to ask what kind of story he wanted when he interrupted my thoughts.

"Will you marry me?"