I see you || Loki

4. Water Wooing

Whatever Loki's intentions had been for you, they were abruptly put on hold when Thor led him and a band of warriors into a scuffle on Vanaheim.

You had never paid much attention to Thor's excursions before. His presence in Asgard did not affect you; why should his absence be any different? And Loki always went with him. So, once again, the only thing that had changed was you. You and your increasingly distracting thoughts of Loki.

It was becoming a bit of a problem. You stared at the pages of a book, running your eyes over the same passage again and again without processing a word of it. The letters kept transforming into figures that were entwined in passionate embrace. You couldn't concentrate, your mind constantly drifting into memories of Loki's body laid out in front of you, bare and magnificent. And you'd only seen half. Imaginings of what you had yet to discover were driving you mad.

No. No 'yet'. That was the problem. There wasn't supposed to be another time. That was what you had decided. And Loki had ruined that. You scowled. Infuriating, clever trickster. You still wanted him and that had been his plan all along.

Maybe his absence was a blessing, giving you time to get your head on straight. It had kept you from turning a one-time lapse into a repeated affair. If he hadn't left, would you have been able to resist the temptation the following night? Stars, how would you have faced him that morning? You probably would have burned with embarrassment.

You looked down again at the book in front of you, still on the same page you'd opened it to that morning. With a sound of disgust, you snapped it closed. You took a deep breath. That was that. By the time he returned, you were going to have driven him from your mind. You would not give him the satisfaction of being right.

Satisfied, pet?

You shivered. No, you weren't satisfied. Not even close. But you had lived a life without satisfaction so far. Why should this be different?

#

The palace had a set of heated outdoor baths on the upper floors that overlooked the lush forest. They were popular, but with the current frosty temperatures, you could almost guarantee that you'd be the only person to go.

You shivered in the frigid air and stripped out of your clothes as quickly as you could. The icy wind tugged at your body, whistling around the walls of the palace. You climbed into the large, circular tub, wooden planks of the sides rough against your hands. Hot water lapped at your skin, a heavenly contrast with the freezing air. You sank in up to your shoulders and gave a relieved sigh that misted the air in front of you.

Out here, with the trees waving in the forest beyond, you felt like you could really breathe. No people, no expectations, just you and the water and all the stars above. You looked up at them, winking at you from the sky. Your life was barely a sliver to them, not worth noting. The insignificance was somehow comforting.

You lost track of how long you soaked in the water, watching the sky turn, but you were brought abruptly back to yourself by the sound of the door opening. Disappointed at your loss of privacy (nothing you could do about it—the baths were shared, after all), you turned to see who had joined you. Strangers weren't so bad as long as they weren't chatty. If necessary, you could always leave.

Your heart forgot to beat when you saw Loki standing just within the door, eyes fixed on you. You gasped and dropped even further into the water, up to your chin.

"Well, then," Loki said, stepping further out and closing the door behind him. "This is a pleasant homecoming."

You crossed your arms over your chest to cover yourself if only a little, still struggling to come to grips with the situation. Loki wasn't supposed to be here. He wasn't even supposed be on Asgard. He was supposed to be worlds away giving you space to drive him from your mind, not here in the same bath as you casually removing his clothing.