A Future of our Own

Prologue - At the Academy

Why did you always end up in these situations?

"No, Loki," you growled for the fifth time.

Stuck in the classroom with the pain in the ass that you called a classmate.

Mr. Know.It.All himself, Loki Laufeyson.

"It's just a sprinkle of magic, it'll show us whether we're on the right track and then we can leave this accursed classroom and go to our separate dorms for the night."

"And trust me, I, of all people, want nothing more than that."

"Then why are you being so complicated?"

You glared at him, cursing every fiber of his being.

From his medium length black hair, to his blue eyes that could change colour in certain lights.

You weren't attracted to him and you certainly didn't have a teenage crush, you were just stuck working with him on a stupid experiment for a science class at a dumb academy that didn't mean anything.

"I'm not being complicated, but if we use magic then we won't learn anything and fail our test."

"They won't know," he replied with an indignant eyeroll.

"Just, don't touch anything and let me grab my notes again, maybe we missed something."

You leaned down, holding onto the edge of the high table to try and grab your open bag that sat beside the table leg, the stool being so high and the bag pushed too far back so that your attempts to grab the handle more resulted in your fingertips grazing the fabric.

As you were leant over, grunting and mumbling your frustrations, you failed to notice the cocky smirk that adorned Loki's face.

If you had, you'd have had a chance to protest the ridiculous plan you knew that he was coming up with, but unfortunately for you, your head was tucked underneath the table as you fruitlessly tried to retrieve your work.

His eyes flickered to the project that lay on the desk, something akin to a mini portal that was effectively a useless mass of constant swirls in the state it was in.

Your project was to create one that worked and instead all you had succeeded in making was a fancy art project or optical illusion, set in a silver metal frame.

As much as you hated spending extended time with the idiot frost giant, you really wanted to get this project completed and go back to your room for a weekend of fun that didn't involve Loki and his pompous attitude.

Finally, after what felt like a humiliatingly long time trying to get it, you grabbed hold of your folder and sat back up.

Just as you dropped your folder onto the tabletop, you noticed a green spark fluttering from Loki's fingers to the portal art piece.

Your mouth dropped open as you stared with wide eyes.

"Loki, what are you doing?" You cried, grabbing onto his wrist.

"Relax," he smirked, "I'm just making it work MY way, we're bound to get an A now."

Letting his magic fade, he looked at you from the corner of his eyes and reached towards the swirling mass of colours.

In worry, you grit your teeth and winced, but couldn't tear your eyes away as his fingertips first made contact and then disappeared into the portal.

You'd be lying if you said that excitement didn't leap into your throat, even if you refused to let it show, instead you merely stared in awe as more of his hand passed through until he was near being wrist deep.

"See," he drawled in his arrogant tone, "I told you nothing wou-"

Loki's sentence was cut off by a low humming that was coming from the portal.

Even though he tried to mask it, you noticed the flicker of fear on his face.

"Why's it doing that?" You asked hastily.

"It's probably nothing," he laughed, though it wavered in uncertainty.

The humming got louder and the colours of the portal started pulsing around his hand.

You jumped up from your seat, hearing the stool clatter behind you as you stared at the pulsing radiance that was getting bigger and bigger.

Then, in a blinding flash of light, the portal exploded and engulfed you both.