Packless Monsters

Chapter 33

"Please?"

"But we're bored!"

"Loki!~~" whined two whiny werewolves, of which you were admittedly one.

"Absolutely not. Now eat your cake," he told you both firmly, trying to draw your attention back to the chocolate cake he had summoned for you.

"Loki~" Rachel whined. Loki glared at her and she pouted.

"You're an instigator. Neither of you annoying puppies are playing outside today. I don't care if you call it 'shopping'. Your husband thinks you're staying in the nice safe fortress that is the Avenger's tower and I'm not arguing with him on that point. I vowed your safety to him,"

"But, Loki, we're perfectly safe shopping in the city,"

Loki just gave her a look. "That was a pathetic argument and so many lies I can't even count them,"

Rachel glanced at you for explanation. "Loki is a human-shaped lie detector, just like werewolves," you explained. She sighed.

"But I'm bored," she whined.

"Watch the movie and eat your cake," Loki told her firmly. She pouted and began painting Thor's fingernails red and gold instead. Loki and Thor both sighed in exasperation. Loki turned to you. "Are you going to be reasonable?" he asked.

"Depends," you told him too innocently.

He looked like he was going to cry he was so frustrated and exasperated by two annoying puppies. "It depends on what, annoying puppy?" he finally resigned himself to ask.

"If you'll give me a kiss," you told him innocently.

"Fine, I must love you dearly to put up with that amount of torture," he huffed as if it was so difficult to have to kiss you. He turned to kiss you and kiss you well while you were laughing at his silliness.

He frowned and wrapped the blanket more firmly around you when you started shivering. He was cold due to his heritage. It usually didn't bother you, and was a blessing during moon fever, but you weren't running as warm as usual. You curled up with him again to watch the movie.

"Now~ can we go shopping?" Rachel asked when Thor's nails were painted. Thor and Loki both groaned.

"No!" they told her firmly.

You giggled, but found yourself yawning a moment later. You looked up at Loki, giving him a suspicious look. He smiled innocently. "Naptime for sleepy werewolf puppies," he told you gently.

"Cheater," you mumbled. He chuckled and kissed your forehead.

"Yes, and I would be sorry, but you two have managed to wear both me and Thor out," Loki told you equally gently. "Now close your eyes,"

"You spelled them to sleep?" Thor's voice was trying to decide if he disapproved of Loki's methods or not.

"For a little while. Do you have a better idea, or do you want to keep having the 'no you're not going shopping' argument for the rest of the day?" Loki asked. "This way we get a reprieve until lunch and can use that time to figure out how to keep Rachel entertained. At least my puppy can be reasoned with," Loki kissed your forehead again. "Sleep, love," he told you softly.

"'m not sleepy," you murmured.

"Uh-huh,"

"Definitely not sleepy," Rachel murmured, equally nearly asleep.

"Sleep, stubborn werewolves," Loki grumbled, dumping more power into the spell to make it less subtle and more effective.

*

When you woke, Loki pulled you to your feet and out of the next of cushions. "Loki?" you asked as you forced your eyes open.

"Come along, darling. Lunch is ready," he told you.

"Sleep spell," you mumbled, stumbling into him.

He chuckled and steadied you. "I know, I know. It'll wear off in a minute," he steered you to the dining room and pushed you into your usual chair.

"Thor, put me down!" Rachel grumbled. You cracked your eyes open to see that she had been thrown over Thor's shoulder.

"Eat, then we have some fun for you," Loki told you both. You gave him a look.

"What fun?" you asked.

"The kind that's fun," he replied. Lunch appeared on the table, a seafood pasta dish that you loved, and could eat the entire pot of anytime it was made. Nat actually made you your own pot the last time she'd made it. You squeed and happily dug into your lunch, noting that Rachel's plate contained a steak instead.

"How did you get Fenrir's spice blend?" she asked incredulously as she stared at the steak, savoring it.

"He's a god, Rach," you replied. "They also met Fenrir like 800 years ago," you added. Rachel raised and eyebrow and Thor told the story of how they'd come to Midgard before. Loki also explained the spell he used to conjure lunch, which is why Thor had a giant mug of Asgardian ale. The spell picked everyone's favorite meals to serve.

After lunch, Loki took your hand and led the four of you down to one of the lower levels. "Loki, where are we going?" you asked.

"I told you, I found an adventure for two bored little werewolves," he teased. You ended up in an old lab in one of the basements.

"This doesn't look like an adventure," Rachel told him, not quite trusting him after that sneaky sleep spell.

Loki grinned and handed her a sledgehammer. He gestured to all of the old equipment and computers. "Go break things," he told her. "There's some explosives in here too. This is all old equipment that needs destroyed. So go destroy, be careful playing with the explosions," he made a shooing motion. Rachel gleefully took her sledgehammer and began attacking the nearest old computer.

You and Rachel spent a couple of happy hours breaking things. "How did that actually work?" Thor asked Loki as he and Loki watched from the sidelines. Loki was sipping on a cup of tea and Thor had a magically refilling mug of ale.

"They needed something active to do. At least that's what I figured since Rachel kept wanting to get up and leave." Loki shrugged, exhaustion in his voice too. "I hoped if I gave them a useful task that included hitting things and explosions they would be entertained for awhile. Mostly it was wishful thinking and desperation," he admitted.

"Let's not do werewolf watch again," Thor bid Loki, sounding actually tired. Apparently your nap hadn't been enough of a break for Thor. Loki either.

"Besides our own werewolf," Loki replied firmly. He wasn't letting you be vulnerable where he couldn't protect you.

"We can handle one. Especially our wolf. You can convince her to be reasonable if nothing else," Thor elbowed Loki and make him blush. "When is Samuel collecting Lady Rachel?"

"He didn't say," Loki groaned. You and Rachel both laughed and got back to your task.