Unexpected

Chapter 15

The ten am sun crept into the room and fell on Loki's lids in attempt to wake him, but only persuaded him to grumble in semi-consciousness, rolling in his face to shield his eyes. He was mildly aware that his head was now resting on the lap of his friend and continued to bury his face against Endre's stomach, dozing off again.

Wakefulness came to Endre by the quiet shifting's on his lap. His eyes fluttered open and fell upon messy black curls sprawled across his thighs. Both men were stretched out over the small sofa: Loki, with his legs hanging over the armrests and Endre with his propped up on the ottoman.

Endre doted over the man, resting and running his palm over his head who did not stir but latently nuzzled into his touch. They remained like that for some time. The older of the two looked out the window, taking in the morning, and considering what he may be missing on the base at this moment, but found that he was unconcerned by his absence. A knock called Endre's attention to the door, "Your Grace?" The muffled voice of the young servant came through the door. Given the time of morning, he was surprised nobody had tried to wake Loki earlier, though perhaps they had. He shook Loki's shoulder to which the man grumbled, face pinching.

"Loki, you need to answer the door."

Another more, timid knock came. The poor servant nervous about disturbing the prince too many times. Loki heard this knock, eyes snapping open and connecting with Endre's who smiled down at him, "About time you woke, I was starting to think you might have died."

Loki flushed as he took in his surroundings, recognizing how he'd been laying on this man.

"I'm coming!" He jumped up and made to the door but froze right before opening it, suddenly struck with the dread he'd felt at Sif's shame of being caught with him. Would Endre feel the same way? He turned to learn the answer to this burning question only to see the man now standing and trying to extract the remnants of a once full tea pot.

"Will you ask them to bring another pot, and some food for me as well? I'm sure I've missed morning rations at the base." Endre asked absentmindedly, looking disappointedly at the half-full cup he managed to procure.

Warmth gushed through Loki at the unknowing response, and he opened the door to a young servant.

"I was asked to come check on you again. You have a meeting with the Viceroy in an hour. I'll bring up your meal now that you're awake." The servant's eyes flicked to Endre as he made his way around the table and sofa to open the window. Loki felt certain that nobody would have come into the embassy that morning and wondered if the servant was keen enough to guess that the man had stayed the night, "Two meals?"

"Yes, and more tea, thank you." Loki smiled at them as they bowed and retreated down the hallway, closing the doors behind them.

"What have you got to do today?" Loki queried while making his way to the window.

"Probably not much. Training if I want. I'll ready my troops if you and our Viceroy decide we need to go somewhere, so really, my day is somewhat in your hands." He smirked, bringing the cup to his lips before grimacing at the cold, bitter liquid.

"So, I was right then, you are high ranking?"

"I'm a Colonel. I'd like to move up, but our station is so small here, there's no need to promote me any further. For now, anyway. "

Loki couldn't help but be impressed by his ranking, he was hardly surprised that Endre had obtained a position of such authority, "Wait, are your troops not missing you right now?" His naivety oozing through, he didn't know almost anything about the chain of command within an army.