Somewhere on Knowhere: Book Three

26

Stephen watched Loki sigh as he took a last look back only to see the staircase in the hall of the Sanctum because he'd closed the portal. He had never seen Loki this emotional before, if his emotion at the moment could be counted as emotional. It was odd, but Loki deserved it after all he and Thor had been through. It was only annoying those space jerks had to go and spoil it.

Carol had come through first, and was simply looking around his hallway in appreciation. "This is cool. I've never been in a wizard house before. Are they all like this?"

Stephen looked at her. "No. I'm special and live in the Sanctum, that's why it's so fancy."

"So where do the other wizards live?" asked Carol.

Stephen hesitated. "Not sure. They don't really give anything away. I think most of them live in Nepal."

Carol clearly thought he was joking as she said, "Uh huh. They probably don't want you visiting because they don't have such cool houses."

"No, really, I think they live in Nepal," Stephen said, honestly. He looked at Loki. "You OK?"

Loki exhaled. "Yeah. I'm good." He shook his head and smiled. "Anyway, Danvers, I'm sure you want to go see your friends, not hang around with us."

"Oh, well, um, yes, I guess," Carol said, and Stephen saw she didn't go totally pink when speaking to Loki now. "It was a pleasure working with you both."

Stephen held out a hand and they shook. "He owes you now," he said, tilting his head towards Loki.

"Well, I don't mind helping him out. Or you!" Carol hastily added. She was going pink now. So much for that.

Loki caught Stephen's eye and winked out of sight of Carol. Two could play that game. Before Stephen could figure out what he was trying to tell him, Loki shook Carol's hand and then gave her a platonic hug. "Thanks for the help," he said.

For the two seconds or so he hugged her, Stephen saw Carol's face go red with embarrassment or joy faster than a set of traffic lights.

When Loki pulled out of the hug, she stayed standing with a surprised look on her face, still bright red, and said, "Oh, I uh, well, um, wow... er, bye, I... uh, yeah, bye!" then flew out the magically automatic front doors, clearly anxious to get out of there as soon as possible.

The second she was gone, Loki gave a laugh. "She's so subtle, isn't she?"

"I think you scared the poor girl," Stephen said. "I'm just glad you didn't kiss her or something. I think she'd have had a heart attack."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Danvers is nice and everything, but even I have limits. She is not getting a kiss."

Stephen nodded, but he was having fun getting on Loki's nerves. "Yeah right. I don't believe that for a second."

Loki looked at Stephen as though studying him. He did it for so long, without saying a word, that it kind of made Stephen nervous.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Stephen asked, almost scared to find out the answer.

"I'm trying to decide whether the backflip kick or an uppercut would be more painful," Loki said casually.

Stephen had seen both these in action and he wasn't anxious to be on the receiving end of one. It hurt enough when Loki punched him as a joke. Being smart, he held up his hands in surrender. "OK, OK, I take it back."

Loki smirked at this. "Good." Then he surprised Stephen by giving him a hug too, platonically, and saying, "Thank you too, Stephen. I'm lucky to be able to count you as a friend."

"Don't mention it," Stephen said somewhat awkwardly, as Loki let him go. It was different to the way he'd hugged Carol, because it seemed more like he'd been doing that as a dare. When he'd hugged him, it felt genuine. "I'm lucky to have you as a friend too." But something about Loki's thank you sounded different, and he couldn't put his finger on it.

The answer only came to him afterwards.

It was the first time Loki had ever called Stephen by his first name.