Loki Shorts

Annual Ball Part III

Loki pulls you close to magically transport you to your destination. You screw your eyes shut even though you know it's unnecessary; you know you're safe, but you still get this nervous excitement every time he does this. You clutched the fabric of his tunic and took in your surroundings as you slowly open your eyes. To the left is a small cottage at the edge of the woods and to the right is a purple tinted waterfall with a stream disappearing in the woods behind you. Loki's voice pulls you out of your observations. "Are you alright love?" He grins.You realize he's teasing when you notice that you're still holding onto him. You let go and straighten yourself out.

"Loki, this is amazing. It's far away from everything which means no one can steal you away from me. And for a whole week?"

"That's right." He puts his arm around your shoulders and kisses your temple.

You smile; pull him closer to your side and lean into him. "Thanks. So are you going to show me inside or are we going to stay out here?"

"I had planned to stay out here for a while unless you're tired."

"No, I just thought that was the surprise."

"Part of it yeah, but you're not curious why the water is purple?"

"I don't know, maybe that's normal here. Is it not?"

"No." He let out a breathy laugh. "Come on."

He led you closer to the stream and waved his hand. The water changed into a flowing bridge, with intricately woven swirls along the railing, that disappeared under the waterfall. Under the bridge is completely dry amethyst crystals where there would normally be pebbles or sand. "Loki, it's beautiful, but there's a few problems with the practicality of that bridge."

His hand turned blue as he froze the bridge into solid ice. "You haven't seen the best part." He takes your hand as the blue of his skin fades into peach and leads you across the bridge. As the pair of you reach the waterfall it splits in half with a sweep of his hand. You stop in your tracks. Behind the waterfall is a cave of amethyst, looking like the inside of a giant geode. The floor of the cave is sanded down so it's smooth. "Do you want to go in?" He rested his hand on your lower back, gently urging you forward.

You look at him and nod. "This is amazing. How did you find this place?"

He motions for you to sit on the cushions he makes appear. You do and he sits next to you. "When I was young I was easily overwhelmed by my- by Thor. When I needed some alone time I would search for secluded areas. I stopped searching after I found this place."

You rest your head on his shoulder. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

He rested his head on yours and let his hand run along your arm. "My pleasure." He paused. "I decided to show you this place when I realised that I don't need alone time from you."

"None?"

"No. Not like I do from others. I can relax, be myself around you. Thats all I need." He hesitated. "Do you?"

"I don't know. I get some alone time during the day while you're doing whatever, so thats always enough. Usually I get really hard to be around if I don't have any alone time. Even on earth with Jane. We went on a trip together and she learned really fast that I needed to go off and be alone if we still wanted to be friends by the end of the trip."

He nodded. "I see."

"Loki, I'm sorry, its just how I am. If it helps, I haven't needed any time away from you yet."

"I guess this week will be an interesting test then."

"Yeah."

There was a minute of silence before he spoke up. "So are you hungry?"