Another Chance

Student Council

The days that followed the reconciliation with Thor (and the pact with Darcy) were... quiet, for lack of a better word. Both of these things allowed Loki to breathe more easily, to his own surprise. He understood why making peace with his brother had had such an effect. After all, and despite everything, he loved Thor. Beyond the rancor (caused more by the actions of Odin and the Four Idiots than by Thor's own idiocy), were the memories of two lifetimes in which Thor had been his brother. So Loki allowed himself, during those days, to harbor hope that away from the influence of the Four Idiots, Loki too could once again be Thor's brother.

So, he stopped shying away from the hallways he knew Thor walked most often on class changes, and he stopped looking away when Thor greeted him. And if he frequented those corridors more times than necessary, taking detours on the way to his classes, to take advantage and also see Sigyn, who could blame him? Suddenly the long hours of class were a little more bearable.

What surprised him most was the peace that came from reaching a truce with Darcy. Although, if he thought about it, it wasn't strange. After all, the last thing he wanted was to have problems with one of the two people Sigyn hung out with the most, not counting him. And maybe, just maybe, he thought still infected with the hope born of his reconciliation with Thor, he could win Darcy's trust if he had enough time.

The peace that filled him the next few days was enough to allow himself to return to eat with Sigyn (and Darcy) in the dining room. He didn't eat much, nor very quickly, but Sigyn smiled at him as if he were a vision of the Norns every time he brought food to his table. During dinners, when they were in the empty common room or his bedroom, Sigyn would always bring some extra dessert and blackmail him with it to eat more. Having seen the subtlety he was capable of, he knew he was being obvious about it on purpose. So he was convinced with the same obviousness, eating a little more to get the prize: Sigyn's laughter, and the twinkle in her eyes when he reached out for his extra dessert.

And yet, he couldn't fully relax. Not when he felt Clint's gaze from across the hall, or saw Natasha's long red hair getting lost among the students at class changes. Reminders of that Saturda was getting closer and closer.

What irritated him most was the uncertainty. If he only had to endure boring Student Council meetings, or even more tedious hockey practices, it wouldn't be a problem. But with everything that had happened with Sylvie he wasn't sure Clint had only called him to fulfill the outcome of his losing bet.

And Clint's damn smiles when he looked back at him weren't helping. On more than one occasion he would have gotten up to drive a knife into his guts, if he hadn't been so busy trying not to vomit everything he'd eaten up to that moment.

In those moments, only some casual contact from Sigyn brought him back to the present and allowed him to keep the contents of his stomach inside it. If the girl noticed his concern, she didn't say anything, although her brief brushing against his arm and his hands was suspiciously appropriate. And since she didn't speak, Loki didn't dare to ask either.

During dinner on Friday, Loki played with the contents of his plate, letting so much time pass between bites that by the third one his food was already colder than hot, and Sigyn was finishing her part.

"Loki.

He looked up from his plate at her, across the kitchen counter. He was sure she was going to ask her. He could see it in her gaze, in the way she bit lightly on her lip. Sigyn opened her mouth and... closed it. And then she smiled, a gesture that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I don't think I told you, but tomorrow afternoon the art club is going to join you at the theater."

Loki knew that wasn't what she had meant to say at first, but he let it go. On one hand, because he knew that she was going to ask about his nervousness, and he wasn't sure how to comment on any of that. On the other, because he was intrigued.