Nothing's Fair in Love and War: A Thor Fanfic

Kittens and Kisses

"You!" Emily growled, hopping off the bed and throwing her fist in Loki's face.

"Ugh, that makes three; you Midgardian women are so temperamental! And here I thought you and I had made amends." Emily crossed her arms furiously.

"Yeah well that was before you crushed my best friend, I warned you that she was fragile!" Loki reached out and stroked the side of Britney's face.

"I think she's a lot stronger than anyone gives her credit for." Emily wasn't listening as she smacked his hand away.

"Don't touch her!" Britney shot her friend a thankful look but shook her head.

"It's okay, Emily. He and I are…working on things." Emily's face turned beet red and she looked as if she were about to pull her hair out.

"Working on things? Excuse me, but who was here drying your tears all month while he's been off doing God only knows what kind of horrible…" Loki cut her off.

"Only breaking and entering, thank you, not anything too dreadful." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh great well, I suppose you're now going to be forcing my best friend into barging into people's houses unannounced as well?" Loki almost looked ashamed…almost.

"Forced is a strong word." Thor got up and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let him be, Emily, he's obviously made it right by Britney." For a moment Britney and Loki both thought Emily's head was about to spin all the way around like the exorcist. For the split second that she was glaring daggers at only Thor, Loki grabbed Britney and she knew what was coming. They noiselessly teleported from Emily's bedroom to somewhere in Stark Tower.

"This is one of the many libraries…one of the only ones I haven't already torn to pieces looking for these damn blueprints. This is why I need your help, that and, I thought the alone time would be a good start at closing the distance, as you put it." The blush creeping up Britney's face did not go unnoticed and Loki felt his own face grow a little warm. He wasn't exactly sure how to open up, even though he wanted too. He was definitely not used to or very good at all at expressing his feelings. They tore through book shelf after book shelf in silence for a while before Britney finally decided to try and break the ice.

"So um…if you don't mind me asking, what exactly did Thor mean when he said you'd gone through something similar?" Loki did mind, he really didn't want to talk about it, but he'd promised her that they'd get to know each other, so he sighed heavily and grudgingly turned to look at her.

"My real parents left me to die on Jotunheim, discarded me like a piece of garbage during a full blown war. Odin found me and took me back to Asgard with him and raised me in an attempt to bring peace between his people and the Jotun's, and he didn't even bother to tell me until I found out on my own when a Frost Giant touched me and my arm turned blue. I don't think he was ever going to tell me…" Britney's heart ached for him and she reached out to gently touch his hand.

"I'm so sorry." Her touch and words comforted Loki in a way that he couldn't vocalize, so he only smiled and nodded in her direction.

"Mythology never said all of that. Only that you were of Jotunheim, and I assumed when we met that they had it wrong when I heard you call Thor your brother and took notice that your skin was the wrong color." Loki laughed bitterly.

"Of course they left it out, who wants to hear about some pathetic child whose father didn't want him at birth because he was weak and sickly?" Britney turned away from Loki and back to her work, unable to bear the pain etched into his features.

"If it makes you feel any better, my mother was gone more than she was present and on the occasions that she was actually around she was drunk and abusive. Then she ran off with husband number four when I was twelve and I haven't seen or heard from her since." Loki shuddered a bit and it caught Britney completely off guard.