Loving Loki (Detective Loki)

Two

Another two weeks had passed since the late coffee between me and David at my house. There was no real change between us after that other than the fact that he took more notice of me being present or not in a room. A small smile here and there, the occasional small talk when I refilled his coffee cup at the same time as my own.

I began to hate the case, still nothing had been unearthed about the two missing girls and I could see David was almost pulling his hair out because of it. I didn't blame him. One of the fathers to the girls had been on Davids case more than the rest the last few days, trying to take matters into his own hands. I did wonder how much longer Davids patience would hold out.

I was sat on my desk chair, legs up against my chest and feet resting on the chair as I chewed absent-mindedly on a strawberry pencil from a bag someone had brought in. I was almost done filing and filtering through the latest pile of evidence and paperwork, I checked the clock quickly. 6:34pm, okay so I was thirty minutes overtime already but I was sure another twenty to finished off the paperwork wouldn't hurt.

I was wrong. I sighed finally leaning back into the chair. 7:28pm. Okay so it wasn't that bad, I didn't hit the full hour but still...that last file was a pain in my ass. I noticed the chill that had come with the department heating being turned off by this time and pulled my department hoodie higher up my neck to fight it off, bunching it up into my cheeks pushing my glasses every so slightly crooked on my face.

"I didn't think anyone was still here" to say I didn't jump would be the understatement of the year. I swivelled in my chair and came face to face with a very tired David. He was leaning on the desk behind mine, his eyes shadowed by dark circles, muscles relaxed if not purely because of how tired they were.

"Sorry, I was going to go I just wanted to finish the last file, which turned out to take longer than I thought"

"Can't ever say you're not dedicated" There it was. The first smile I'd seen from him all day. It made me feel better for sure but I did take a moment to wonder where he had been all day, he hadn't been at his desk for hours and you were sure he didn't go out on a lead.

"So how's your day been?"

"Tiring, I've been stuck in a meeting all day updating and briefing anything new on the case, which isn't much but somehow they managed to keep it going for hours" Explains where he's been. "You should head home you know, it's late and those things don't count as dinner"

I looked down at the last few strawberry pencils, he was right, they didn't count but the thought of cooking dinner right now made me want to dig my own grave and crawl into it.

"You're probably right, do you need anything before I go?" I asked as I stood up and began organising my desk.

"Dinner?"

"Huh?" I turned to look at David who had gone a subtly shade of pink, his eyes meeting mine trying to work out if what he'd said had offended me or not.

"Do you want to get dinner? With me?" I was taken back by him asking. I mean he probably means it in more of a we're colleagues and maybe friends and we both stayed late and need dinner so why not get some together? Right? "You don't have to, I just-"

"No dinner sounds good"

"Oh okay, okay lets go" He grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair by his desk and grabbed his keys. The jangle of the keychains the only noise I could hear right now other than my furious heartbeat. Why was I getting so nervous?

It took us ten minutes to get in the car and wind up at the local diner. I was thankful for the casual choice of venue, my leggings and department hoodie didn't exactly scream fancy although I couldn't deny I was grateful for the more causal dress code I was allowed to abide by at work. Plus it would be awkward going to a fancy restaurant with David, I didn't even think the town had a fancy restaurant, so we'd have to travel out to the next town and-

"Are you okay?" Davids voice pulled me away from my thoughts, we'd parked up outside the dinner and now he was looking at me, concerned bringing his eyebrows down closer together.

"Yes! Sorry I was kinda lost in my own thoughts" I smiled hoping he wouldn't delve further and almost let out a sigh of relief when he shrugged his shoulders and made to get out of the car.

The diner was nice, the owner Kathy kept the place nice while Carl her husband ran the kitchen and managed everything else. I'd seen their son on more than one occasion in town, I knew he helped his parents run the place and went out on errands all the time. He smiled from behind the cut out window to the kitchen behind the counter.

"You know Kyle?" David walked us to an empty both and we sat down, Kathy was already on here way over with a pot of coffee.

"Not really, I've seen him around a few times and he gave me directions a few times, he seems nice" David nodded and smiled up at Kathy who quickly poured steaming coffee into two of the mugs on the table.

She took our orders and cheerfully wandered back to the kitchen to hand it in. So chipper for someone who runs a late working diner. David was looking down at his coffee, he seemed lost in thought and for a moment I didn't want to disturb him. Then thinking better of it I spoke.

"So...Do you do much outside of work?"

"Not really, it tends to take up most of my time and then I'm too tired to do much but sleep when I'm not working" He looked up and me and for a second I thought he looked embarrassed by the fact that his answer was so boring. "What about you?"

"I read, write a little I guess. I haven't done an awful lot since moving here actually, I still need to finish decorating"

"You should go to the next city over, better choices"

"I'll try it out, do you go there much?"

"Sometimes, a few cases took me there and I went once on a day off just for something to do. I could come with you if you want? I don't know the area all that well but I guess two lost people is better than one" He smiled and I smiled back automatically. It was nice to see him like this and I found it so easy to feel comfortable around him.

Even when our food arrived we kept the conversation going, talking about family. He didn't have an awful lot to say about his family, he was an only child and had joined the police force as early as he could. I told him about my uncle who worked at NYPD, he'd got me interested in police work but I never felt like I could make it out on the field so I went for the background work instead. David wanted a dog, but didn't have the time to commit to one. He didn't have a wife or girlfriend which made me a lot more happier than I would openly admit. He hated mustard.

By the time we got back into the car I was full and tired. The car ride was glazed over in a comfortable silence until we finally rolled up outside my house, I noticed that ginger cat was back again and sat on the porch licking his paws like he owned the place.

"When I find out who owns that cat I'm going to shove him through their letterbox" He laughed. David laughed. It was such a nice sound and I'd never heard it before I turned to him and my surprise must have shown on my face because he stopped short as soon as I looked at him.

"That wasn't a joke?"

"Well that depends...would you tell anyone it was me if I did it?" I held back my smile as best as I could but eventually we both smiled at each other. Smooth recovery.

"You're secrets safe with me"

"Thanks for dinner"

"You're welcome"