Muffins - Loki & Ylva alternate universe stories

Muffins IV

Just when he is about to leave, he hears the metal door open. She's here! Loki jumps up and his heart sinks in his chest when he sees she's not alone. There's a young man with her, with brown curls and a light blue polo shirt. They both carry a large mug, probably coffee or tea.

"Oh, hey, little guy, were you waiting for me?" Ylva's light voice carries over the rooftop as she walks over to the red bench, the man following her a few steps behind. Loki's eyes narrow as he sees how the man is checking out her ass. "Look, Chad!" she says merrily, scratching Loki behind his ears as she sits down next to the feline on the bench. "This is the cat I told you about!"

The man sits down on the bench too, on the other side of Loki. The bench becomes a little cramped with the three of them on it. "Is it a stray? He might have fleas..."

Loki flicks his tail from left to right in an agitated manner, but Ylva runs her hand across his back, smoothing out his twitchy tail. "I don't think he's a stray. He looks like he is well taken care of." She scratches the cat's head. "You don't have fleas, hey little guy?"

In reply, Loki pushes his head against her arm, nudging her to pet him some more. She does, while she listens to the man she called Chad talk about some new camera lens he recently bought. "I have only used it for some random pictures until now," he says. "I'd love to shoot some portraits with it, maybe you could model for me some day?"

Loki rolls his cat eyes at the obvious attempt to hit on the girl. Ylva isn't oblivious to it too. "Oh, I don't know, Chad," she says evasively, nipping from her hot tea.

"Come on, Ylva," he coaxes, clearly not easy to blow off, "you have such a pretty face. I'd love to get you in front of my camera." Chad shifts a little in his seat, bringing his knee up on the bench and slightly pushing Loki so the cat has to move over a little. The man switches his coffee cup to his other hand to lean his arm on the back of the bench.

"Well, we're not doing portraits yet at the course," Ylva says with a slight smile. To Loki, her voice sounds a little strained and he puts his front paws on her legs so he can rest half on her lap. She looks down at him and playfully scrunches her nose up at him.

"We don't have to wait for the course program," Chad says temptingly. His hand creeps up over the edge of the bench, in the direction of Ylva's shoulders. The girl doesn't seem to notice: she is concentrating on her cup of tea, politely ignoring the man's thin-veiled attempts at seducing her. Loki lets himself roll off her lap and he stretches his feline body, paws stretched out. Pushing his nails in Chad's jeans is quickly done.

"Ow!" Chad's arm comes rushing down from the benchrest and he shoves Loki roughly to the ground. The cat turns half way, grabbing one of the jeansclad legs another time with his nails before he hits the ground on all fours.

"Careful!" Ylva exclaims, looking from Chad to the cat in confusion.

"That damned thing scratched me!" Chad rubs his hand over his lower leg, where Loki has hit him on his way down.

"Well, then you shouldn't have shoved him off like that," Ylva says very matter of factly.

Chad looks like he wants to say something rude, but he checks himself and takes a large swig of his coffee. Loki sits a few feet away from the bench, his tail flicking back and forth. "Cats belong on the ground anyway," the man says with a forced smile. Then he picks up the conversation again, talking about something that happened that afternoon. From what Loki understands, the two of them have been shooting pictures at an empty factory as part of an assignment for their photography course.

"I can't wait to see how my pictures turned out!" Ylva is excited about the course, her eyes light up. "They might need some editing though, the light was tricky."

"If you need some help with that..." Chad offers, putting his arm on the back of the bench again. "I know a thing or two about editing. I'd be happy to help you."

"Oh, that's not necessary." Ylva declines the offer with a quick smile. "You have helped me a great deal this afternoon already. Without you I wouldn't have known about that empty factory, it was a great location!"

Chad puts his hand to his heart and makes a little bow. "Always happy to help a damsel in distress. Besides, that damsel invited me to dinner in return. How could I say no to that?"

"Yes, well... too bad Hannah and Norman couldn't join us," Ylva says, emptying her tea and placing the mug on the ground.

"Ah, yes... well, better luck next time," Chad answers. He sounds so insincere that Loki suspects the guy to have knocked that Hannah and Norman over the head to have Ylva all to himself. "I'll give them the adress, so they can go by themselves later."

Loki folds his paws under him and lies down, keeping a sharp eye on the male. He contemplates turning back to the form of the God of Mischief, but this feline shape might be the only thing that keeps him from throwing that weasly little runt of the roof. He can practically hear Thor's complaints already.
Ylva doesn't seem to be using her magic, Chad is simply trying to make a pass at her like he would probably do with any goodlooking woman. The guy doesn't show any signs of being mesmerized by Ylva, though to Loki she looks as radiant as always, save for her unease because of that douche bag that is overstaying his welcome.

With her tea finished, Ylva has shifted more to the edge of her seat. Loki can tell she is ready to call it a night, yet Chad sits back like he has no better place to be. With a contented sigh Chad finishes his coffee. "You make some fine coffee, Ylva."

"Thank you," she answers, quickly looking away again. She has her hands around her knees, playing with a ring on one of her fingers. Loki gets up, saunters over to her and nudges his head at her hands. Ylva smiles at him and scratches under his chin.
"Well... thanks again for this afternoon, Chad. I'm sure I have some good pictures to show off at our next meeting." She gets up from the bench and to his satisfaction Loki sees a flash of disappointment on Chad's face before he gets up too.

"No need to thank me, baby," the sleazeball says with a broad smile. "It was my pleasure."

"Let me walk you out," Ylva deadpans and she starts off in the direction of the metal door, Loki following her closely. "Oh, no buddy, you can't come in." She bends over to gently push the cat in the other direction.

Peeved, Loki watches the door close behind her and the creep. Then he sprints across the roof, to the fire escape. He has just reached the stairs of the third floor, as the door opens on the landing below. Chad steps outside, turning back to Ylva who has the doorknob still in her hand. "Thanks again for dinner, Ylva," Chad says and Loki's tail gets all thick and bushy when he sees how the guy lingers in front of the door.

Ylva plasters a smile on her face. "I'll see you at the next meeting."

Loki sees Chad's next move coming from a mile away. He crouches on the step, puts his hairs up and hisses menacingly. "What the heck is wrong with that thing?!" Chad calls out upset, jumping back.

The girl covers her mouth with her hand, joy in her eyes. "I guess he doesn't like you very much," she manages to say evenly.

Chad starts down the stairs, muttering he hates cats. "See you, Ylva."
The moment the door is closed Loki sprints down the stairs, jumping between Chad's feet to trip him. He happily gambols down the alley, followed by angry threats to skin him alive.

When he returns to the brickstone building, the light in the kitchen is on. Loki climbs up the stairs until he can jump to the windowsill. It's narrow, but he can just perch on there. Ylva is in the kitchen, doing the dishes. When he scratches at the window frame she looks up in surprise. She pulls up the blinds, starting to laugh as soon as she sees the black cat. With some difficulty she pushes the window up, Loki has to jump back to the stairs to avoid being shoved off the windowsill. Ylva leans out of the window on her arms. "You came to check up on me, kitty?"

Loki meows softly in return, because that is exactly what he is doing. When she smiles at him, he can almost literally feel the warmth that comes from her. She is charming him again and he couldn't care less at the moment, he just wants to see her smile again and again.

Ylva chuckles. "I'm alright, little guy. Thanks for standing up for me." She reaches out to scratch him behind the ears. "See you around, kitty."