Pages of Your Name [Loki]

Chapter 8 Doppelgänger

The bell on the door rang, signaling that Loki had arrived to work. Five minutes late.

"Hey you." Loki raised an eyebrow at Mari, who was collapsed on the couch.

"Not so loud." Mari rolled over.

Loki noted that all the lights in the store were turned off.

"How are you so peppy at a time like this?" Mari grumbled.

"I can handle my alcohol better than you." Loki said simply.

"All I'm saying is that that is bullshit. I can't remember anything from last night, but I bet you just had a beer or something." Mari huffed.

"Sure." Loki shrugged, choosing not to argue.

"Also, I think that the headache I have is really just from my mother going on and on about you. 'Mija! That man is so wonderful! He's an immigrant, and he has a hole in his heart that we need to fill with tamales.'" Mari imitated dramatically.

"Is that really what she said?" Loki said, amused.

"Yeah, but in Spanish." Mari laughed. "Hey, come here, I'm going to teach you."

"Teach me Spanish?" Loki asked.

"No, I'm going to teach you Arabic. Dipshit." Mari rolled her eyes.

"Nice." Loki grinned. He approached the couch, and Mari picked up the book that she was currently reading, Egg and Spoon. "Es un libro."

"Libro." Loki repeated.

"That means 'book.'" Mari nodded. "Not to be confused with libre, which means 'free,' and also not to be confused with libra, which is my zodiac sign."

"Hey, do you already know any other languages?" Mari asked abruptly.

"English, of course, Norwegian, German, Latin, and Greek. Also with a plethora of Portuguese and Urdu curse words, but that doesn't really count." Loki said proudly.

"Wow. And I thought I was cool for being bilingual. You're like, cinclingual." Mari pouted.

Loki opened his mouth to make a wisecrack about being alive on Earth for 1,000 years longer than she has, but decided against it.

"How is this store still in business?" Loki asked. Customers were quite rare, he only got a few per day.

"We have regulars. We get walk-ins. Anti-capitalists that hate large corporations like Barnes and Noble." Mari explained. "But between you and me, I think Mrs. Fletcher's husband was a money launderer in the Chinese opium trade. Or she's a trust fund baby." Mari grinned.

Loki didn't know how to answer that, but he was saved by two customers that walked in.

He recognized them. They were the two business men that had walked into the store a couple days ago.

One of them approached the register, and Loki felt himself tense up.

"Are you Aaron Macmillan?" The man asked. He had brown hair, and a wide face punctuated by light blue eyes that were twisted into an emotion that Loki couldn't quite place.

"No, why are you asking?" Loki responded. Mari approached him carefully.

"Excuse me, sir, is there a problem?"

"Yeah, can I see some ID?" The man asked.

"Can I see your ID? On whose authority are you making these accusations?" Loki bristled.

"SHIELD, actually." The man pulled out a badge that read, Agent Kemp.

Loki reached into his pocket, and conjured an ID card for himself. It was a fake, but of course the mortals wouldn't know that.

"See?" He handed the card over. "Luke Odinson, not Arthur whatever."

"Sorry for wasting your time, sir." Agent Kemp pulled out a picture of man that looked almost exactly like Loki's form that he appeared in while around mortals. "It seems you have a doppelgänger. If you see him in the area, please give us a call." One of the men left a number on the counter, and they both walked out of the store.

"What the hell was that?" Mari burst out.

Loki hesitated. "I'm not sure, I think maybe I look like some criminal?"

"I thought SHIELD's reputation tanked after the whole DC thing with the winter soldier. What are they doing here?" Mari asked.

Loki nodded, but he was deep in thought. He had chosen a form based on who he wanted to look like, a handsome and friendly-looking guy. Maybe he was really out there somewhere, causing chaos.

"Earth to Luke." Mari touched his shoulder, pulling Loki out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, just— I've never been mistaken for someone else. It's odd." Luke looked at the ring that he always wore. It was a blackened silver, with a brilliant stone set in the middle. It was a disguised form of the Tesseract that he had stolen from Asgard. It had the power to find Arthur-Whatshisname and return him to SHIELD.

But deep down, he knew that he couldn't do that. He had promised himself that he would only use the Tesseract if it was an extreme emergency. It had the power to control him like Thanos did, and he would be nothing again.

"Luke, seriously, are you okay?" Mari asked, concerned.

"Sorry, I'm just thinking. I'm just a bit confused." Loki lied with ease, twisting his ring around his finger.

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ok wow. So this author's note has nothing to do with the actual story, I just wanted to let everyone know that Kevin Feige has announced that Loki will side with Thanos in Infinity War, and I'm not cool with that.