BlindSight: A Thor (Loki) Fanfiction

Chapter 9: Chores and Fairytales

Loki P.O.V.

The rest of the night happened like a blur. Before I knew it, dinner had passed and Mandy had begun to clear the table. This time, I decided to assist her. I picked up my own plate and placed it on the sink.

She must have noticed the gesture since she smiled and said, “Thanks, but you don’t have to do that for me. I can manage.”

This was the second time she refused my help and though I was no longer as insulted as I had been the first time, I still was not happy about being denied.

“I merely want to repay your acts of kindness with my own but it seems you do not wish me to.” I told her, while trying to hide the unhappiness in my voice.

Mandy stopped working to tell me, “It’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’re doing. I do. It’s just that I don’t want to feel like an invalid. I can’t rely on others forever.”

As usual, she gave a good justification. It was becoming clear what she wanted to be perceived as: an independent and capable woman despite her disability. It was admirable that she wished to be treated like a normal person and not be defined as useless because of her blindness. Still, pushing away an offer of assistance would not make her appear competent as she wanted to be.

“I understand, but you take my actions as if they were based on pity.” I said to her.

“Maybe you’re right. You just want to help, don’t you?” Mandy admitted with a tone that revealed that she was either shy or embarrassed.

She then pulled herself together and turned to me saying, “How about this: If you’re up for it, you can help me out with chores tomorrow. Only if you want to.”

I was unsure if she meant it or not, but to me, it sounded as if she was testing my willingness to aid her. Though I was not very fond of housework, I was not going to back away from a challenge.

“Why not?” I said in agreement. Mandy smiled then returned to the dishes. “So for tonight, you will take care of the work?” I asked her though the answer was quite clear.

“Yup, I’ll do them. You can take a break for now.” She told me. After speaking however, she paused from washing and spoke once again.

“Loki, you like to read don’t you?” She asked. I tried to remember how she knew that I did. After a moment, I realized that I mentioned that to her the night before, when we were discussing the things I enjoyed doing.

I replied, “I do. Why do you ask?” Mandy rinsed off the soap from her hands and gestured me to follow her while she left the kitchen.

We stopped when we were before a cabinet. She stooped down and felt for the handles. Once the doors were opened, I saw the contents.

Mandy P.O.V.

Having remembered that there were books stored in the old cabinet, I decided to let Loki use them to pass the time.

I brushed my fingers against the spines of the books as I spoke. “There are a lot of stuff to read here, but as you can already tell…” I did not need to finish my sentence. I knew Loki was smart enough to get it.

He made no audible response however, which made me think that he was not interested.

I ran my fingers against the books once again as I tried to break the silence. “I’m sure there’s something here that you’d like to…”

Suddenly, I felt cool long fingers touch my own. I realized they belonged to Loki, who was also scanning through the books with his hand. I relinquished my spot on the spines to let him through.