Ablaze (Loki x OC & Thor x Balder)

Part Five

"Thor?"  Balder stared at the table in front of him absent-mindedly.

The typically quiet thunder god responded by sitting next to the blonde.

"I'm worried..." He broke from his trance-like state and met Thor's warm gaze. "... about Loki."

The taller young man sighed, and then furrowed his eyebrows.  "Why are you worried?"

"He hasn't been to the dorm... and he's failing..."  Balder's sky blue eyes watered with worry.

Much to his surprise, Thor chuckled.  "He's with Eir, now.  There surely isn't anything to worry about."

The worrisome boy didn't seem to calm down, so the turquoise-haired god sighed again.  "Despite how much she says she doesn't care about him, she really does.  No matter what she may say, Loki always seems to be at the top of her mind."

Balder slouched into the sofa, fiddling with his fingers.  "I guess that's true."

"And we already know how Loki feels, even though he won't admit it himself."  The young man chuckled again.  

"But that still doesn't explain why he doesn't come back.  Do you think... that we may have done something he's upset about?" Balder searched in Thor's golden eyes for answers.

"Stop worrying about Loki so much." Thor smiled and reached out a hand to brush a thick strand of hair out of the blonde's beautiful face.  "Worry about yourself.  How do you feel?  Not 'how does Loki feel?'"

For the first time, Balder realized the fast paced beating of his heart as the other boy softly stroked his cheek.  Confused by the unfamiliar feeling, he tried to move further from the other god, but avoided falling over clumsily as Thor wrapped his hand around the back of his neck.

The blush on the blonde's face was unmistakable as Thor leaned closer to him, placing his other hand beside the light god to keep him from escaping the moment.  "Tell me, are you worried now, Balder?"  His thin lips were beside Balder's ear as his breath brought chills across his body.  "How do you feel?"  He whispered.

"I- I..."  Balder stuttered, but didn't try to evade the larger man.

"Sh..." Thor pulled away and placed a finger to the blonde's lips.  "You don't need to answer that right now."  He stood from the couch and wore a peculiar smile as the shorter boy had an expression of complete bewilderment.

~-<+>-~

"Good morning~" An excited, song-like voice rang through Eir's tired ears.

"Nya... good morning..."  She said groggily, nuzzling closer to the warmth that enveloped her.  "So sleepy..." She mumbled, though her words were slurred tiredly so it sounded more like a jumbled mess of "schweepy."

"Aren't you the one who was 'oh-so-worried' about the exam today?"  The same lower voice asked in a teasing tone.  The girl yawned as her emerald orbs slowly pried themselves open.  Yet, once the hazy screen covering her vision cleared, she suddenly forced herself upright and gasped in disbelief.

"Loki?! What the hell are you doing here?!"  She screeched.

"Ow... are you normally this loud in the mornings?"  Loki's eyebrows furrowed as he flinched at the sound of her voice.

"Why are you here, in my bed?!"  Eir continued to throw questions while several non-desirable theories developed in her head.

"Oh, right."  He scratched the back of his head, ruffling his already messy, fiery hair.  "You just looked so cute, I couldn't help but cuddle you!" He grinned cheekily, though his silver eyes seemed more intrigued with her reaction.  "Like a little kitten~” He lifted his hands and curled them, mimicking a cat while making some sort of "nya" noise.