A Whole Bunch of Loki's

The Jotun and the Witchling

The large wooden doors flew open with a flourish that made Loki groan and roll his eyes.

Such an entrance could only mean one thing, 'she' had come to visit.

The sound of heels clicking on the cold tiles of the hall bounced off the ice walls, sounding louder than should be possible by a single person. Following behind it came her voice, singing his name in a way that always ground on his ears and put him in a fouler mood than he would have already been in.

He wanted to ignore her but knew that the only way to stop the incessant singsong of his name being called was to greet her, have their usual conversation and then send her back on her way for another few months.

He hated how she made him feel.

Pushing himself off his throne, Loki lazily made his way out of the room and to the top of the staircase as per usual when it came to their meetings.

She stood at the bottom, lopsided grin aimed up at him as she tilted her head and let her hair fall into his face.

"There you are, my darling Beast."

Loki's eye twitched and he clenched his blue hands into fingers, gritting his teeth.

"I have told you not to call me that," he practically snarled.

"And I don't follow orders from the likes of you."

Loki bit back a response, knowing that it wouldn't be worth his energy as she would always turn everything around on him in a never-ending battle of wits and retaliations.

"Why are you here?" He instead asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I'm here to discuss your predicament," she shrugged, moving up the stairs.

Loki watched her suspiciously, though his eyes also took in the way her dress clung to her and dipped around the chest just enough to give an illusion of lewdness, a long train following behind her matching the long bell sleeves that made her look positively ethereal.

There was almost an ethereal glow to her and he hated that he liked it.

"What of it?"

"Surely you, of all people, know that you have run out of time, Loki."

"I am," he replied stoically, watching her carefully.

"And yet you seem unphased?"

"I have accepted my fate."

She slowly shook her head, letting out a long sigh.

"Did you even try to find someone to break your curse?"

"Not actively, what is the point? I would probably grow weary of them eventually either way and the peace has been quite pleasant."

"Wow, what a waste of my magic."

"I could have told you that from the start, but if it makes you feel any better there were a few people who came by and could have been potential curse breakers."

"Of course, you just have to go against the grain," she scoffed, folding her arms as her eyes roamed over the exposed skin of his blue chest, taking in the details of the markings that crossed his body. "You're terribly infuriating."

"So I've been told."

With a frustrated groan, she threw her arms in the air.

"What a waste of my time! This is the last time I get ideas from a damn book."

Loki let out a chuckle and looked down at her, way down from his advanced Jotun height. She looked up at him and sighed wearily, her shoulders visibly drooping.

"Or perhaps you're terrible at cursing people."

They stared at each other silently, her face falling further.

"Did you not learn a thing?" She asked in a vain hope.

"I did," he nodded slowly, "I understand why you did what you did, I was being a complete cretin and I deserved to be cursed to look like the monster I was on the inside."

"Then perhaps it wasn't a complete waste of time."

"Perhaps not, though I fail to understand why you added such a needless clause to the contract."

"It seemed romantic in the story I read and the idea was sweet, finding someone to love you despite your hideousness to break the spell," she sighed wistfully, staring dreamily over his shoulder, "it's romantic."

Loki chuckled and shook his head, "Who knew you were such a romanticist."

"Usually I'm not," she laughed softly, smiling up at him, "but it was only fair that I gave you a fighting chance, little did I know that you wouldn't take it."

"As I mentioned, a few men and women stopped by but by then I had accepted how I was and I found their company more tiresome than anything."

"You're telling me you had multiple occasions to lift the curse and you willingly chose not to."

"In short."

"Why?"

Loki shrugged, diverting his eyes around the vast hallway that they were stood in.

"Perhaps they weren't my type, perhaps they couldn't cope with me or perhaps I am masochistic and enjoy your taunting visits."

"I would totally believe that," she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe you should, maybe that is why you added that particular way to break the curse."

Her eyebrows knitted together and she slowly shook her head, "I'm not following."

Loki sighed, leaning down to her level.

"I'm suggesting, dear witchling, that perhaps you made that the clause to my curse so that you could break it yourself."

They were uncomfortably close, his nose almost touching hers as they stared at one another.

A palpable tension slowly filled the air and her heartrate started to get uncomfortably fast, her breathing felt constricted as her chest tightened at the look that had glazed over the Jotun's eyes.

Never had she been made to feel this way and now she wasn't entirely sure what to do or where to go from here.

"Did..." she finally spoke, licking her bottom lip. "Did you just call me a witchling?"

Loki chuckled, nodding slowly while raising a hand to cup her cheek, making her tense up as she knew the risk of a Jotun's touch.

"I did, but let us not focus on that, shall we? Instead, let's see if a witch can be the breaker of her own curse without actively reversing it."