The Devil Is A Gentleman | Loki

9

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At this point it seemed there was no way out, Aria's fighting training didn't exactly go as she planned and it turned out to be harder than she expected.
Every time she caught his punch and was surprised at herself that she evaded his attack, she got distracted by her excitement which gave him the chance to trip her up.

So after their next training session, he walked her back to her room and she flopped on the bed hopelessly.
She only moved to look at the door a little later when Loki came in with some food for her.

"I don't know why you have to bring it yourself, you could easily get a guard to do it." Aria sighed, and stared back up at the ceiling

"Knowing you, you'd probably find a way to escape." He set the food down.

"You don't 'know me' at all" she rolled her eyes, pausing for a second before saying,
"But you could" as she sat up to look at him properly.

He paced over to her mirror and looked at her through the glass reflection.
"What?"

"If I'm going to be trapped here for the rest of my life then we should be on good terms at least a little" she shrugged.

He paced over to the door, and then back again.

".. What was your childhood like?" She asked awkwardly, trying to start a conversation.

He said nothing, but looked to his left as his back faced her, able to see her just in his peripheral vision.

"What are you doing." He said darkly,

".. What do you mean?" She asked, standing up and raising her eyebrow.

"You're trying to trick me." He turned to face her.

Aria felt a pang of uneasiness as she laid eyes upon his hardened expression. After all his looks at her this was definitely the worst. She stepped back a little towards the balcony and instantly became aware of the pit forming in her stomach.
Fear.

"Trick you? Why would I do that?"

"You've said countless times yourself you want to escape. What's stopping you from getting closer to me just so that you can appeal to my humanity? But I'm telling you now it won't work." He took a step forward and slowly clenched his fist.

"it honestly confuses me why you have so many defences up" Aria sighed, rolling her eyes a little to hide her uneasiness and stepping back a little further again, putting her hand out to stop her bumping into the doorway of the balcony.

"And you think I had no clue," he hissed, "that you only agreed to fighting training in order to disarm me and run? If you thought so then you're more stupid than you appear."

His words stung, he had figured out her plan. She felt guilty in a way.
Why did she feel guilty?? He's the one who kidnapped her. He's the one who started this whole thing.
his insult also twisted her gut,
'If you thought so then you're more stupid than you appear.'
And Aria became angry herself.

"Well none of this would've even happened if you hadn't faked my death as well as yours, Loki. And the only stupidity I possess is the fact that I thought for a second I could trust you on that ship." She snapped, a subtle micro-aggression escaping from her control. Her tone dripped with spite, and she regained her courage enough to step forward from the balcony doorway.

He tilted his head down dangerously,
"You're the one who said you wanted to leave! Leave midguard forever! All I did was tap into my generosity for you for that one moment-"

"Oh and I'm supposed to thank you?!" She yelled.

His fist began to shake in anger, and he stepped forward once again to yell,
"WHY DID YOU EVEN SAY YOU WANTED TO LEAVE MIDGUARD IN THE FIRST PLACE-"

"BECAUSE I WANTED TO RUN FROM MY PROBLEMS." She screamed, storming over to him and violently pointing a finger at his chest, tears starting to build in her eyes.

"BUT I REALISED AFTER I SAW THE LOOK ON JANE'S FACE WHEN SHE THOUGHT I HAD DIED, THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO RUN ANYMORE AND MAYBE YOU SHOULD REALISE THAT TOO."
She screamed, her breath was heavy and she removed a strand of hair from her face, the fact that their faces were centimetres away remained unnoticed.

They both simply stood there, looking into each others eyes. The tension building more and more until,

"I only run when it's necessary for me." He lowered his head and stared darkly at her through his eyebrows.

"Thor may have given himself false hope by asking me for help and in doing so, building an appeal for my pardon. As if Odin would ever think of treating me like the rest." Loki turned his head to the side, striding away a few paces.

"He's detested me since childhood, he only saw me as an opportunity to unite Asgard and Jotunheim, never as a son. I'm no equal to him, or any of the rest of them. To them I'm a monster. Maybe they're right." He paused, and for a moment he seemed to let his vulnerability take over. But only for that split second, as he then snapped out of it and strode back over, resuming their tense glare, their faces inches away from each other,

"But don't lecture me about running because I am all too familiar"

Aria was taken aback, but regained her composure and furrowed her brows,
"..What's jotunheim? And why wouldn't Odin treat his own son-"

"I never was, and never will be Odin's son."

"What? But Frigga told me-"

"-a lie, the lie i've been fed my entire life."

".. I don't understand" she allowed her expression to soften, and stepped back a little.

"Of course you wouldn't, you know nothing." He snapped, turning around and storming out of the room.
Aria was left there, standing in shock and confusion, trying to decipher what his words meant.

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