Playing With Fire (EDITING)

No Regrets

I chuckled and nodded. "Guess I do," I replied.

"I think it's my turn to spend some time with the pretty lady," Kurt's voice interrupted. He wrapped a teasing arm around my waist and pulled me into him. "You've been chatting Doug's ear off all night; I think I've earned a minute or two."

I laughed and poked Kurt in the side. "Alright, you want to chat, what do you want to chat about?"

He squeezed my side and pulled me further away from Doug and closer to himself. Kurt was normally flirty and cocky but this wasn't him. "You've been drinking," I stated flatly.

"It's a party and I am twenty-one," he defended himself.

"You've still been drinking." I brushed his arm away and stood.

"I only had one glass!" he protested.

"This is Asgard! You don't know what you're drinking or how it will affect you!"

He waved me off and tried to pull me down beside him again. "Let off it, Sparky. I'm fine if I don't have any more."

"Then don't." I sat reluctantly beside him again on the wide stone blocks. "But Kurt, I'm serious. If I see you drinking any more, I will set Han after you."

He immediately sobered and nodded before confusedly shaking his head. "No Han. Nope, not gunna be necessary. No drinking. Got it."

"Kurt." I still didn't believe him. Maybe because he was too much of a jokester but he didn't sound like he meant it.

"I get it," he agreed, "Serious. Why are you so ticked anyway?"

"Because alcohol makes men into fools," I answered, getting up and leaving them at the window. I didn't want to tell them the real reason, and only Grandpére knew; I hadn't even told Ma or Han. I'd told Daniel of course, but that didn't matter now. What mattered was that I stopped Kurt from becoming a drunken idiot.

Eventually, I found Megan and Kitty conversing with an Asian guy and some dude with a fuzzy beard. "Lyrica, this is Hogun and Fandral, two of the Warriors Three," Kitty explained. The men nodded respectfully before I pulled Kitty away and left Megan alone with the men.

"What's up?" she asked.

"If you see Kurt, just remind him that I'm watching, okay?"

"Um, yeah, why?" she agreed slowly.

"He's going to get himself killed if he's not careful. He's already gone loopy, just one more glass and he's done. Just, keep him in check if you see him."

She nodded, entirely serious. "Yeah, he gets like that too often. I'll watch out for him."

"And can you tell Megan too?"

She nodded, brunette curls bouncing around her shoulders, before rejoining the small circle. I limped away toward a quiet corner to watch the festivities and leaned heavily against a wall. The excitement, the noise, the activity- it all brought a massive headache as well as a sense of happiness that had no cause. I wanted so badly to join the crowd and laugh and dance long into the night, but the pain held me back.

After a handful of minutes alone and observant, Captain Rogers approached me. "You should be enjoying yourself," he said. "Not standing here alone."

"Who's to say I'm not enjoying myself standing here alone?" I retorted.

He smiled and leaned beside me on the wall. "I meant to tell you earlier," he began, "But it escaped me until now. You look beautiful tonight. You really should let your hair down more often."