Dreaming in Blue

VI - Heating up

Turns out the currency used in this place was one Loki was familiar with. He was able to easily replicate it with the use of his magic, and was able to get them a bed.

Nina could barely stay on her feet as she followed Loki down the corridor and waited for him to open the door.

The place wasn't a five star hotel, that was for sure. But it had ceiling, four walls and a fireplace, so Nina was satisfied. Nina's legs gave up just as she reached the bed, but luckily, Loki was following her closely behind exactly for this purpose.

As soon as her knees hit the ground with a thud, Loki's arms were around her. He lifted her bridal-style and, surprisingly with no complaints from her part, placed her upon the abnormally wide bed.

"Thank you," she whispered as he tucked her underneath the covers. Loki winced when he brushed her hand and realised how cold she actually was.

"You really need to warm up," Loki told her. "Don't you want to take a hot bath instead of shivering under the covers?" Nina's face lit up upon hearing the alternative. A hot bath sounded very good at the moment. Loki smiled at her reaction. "I'll go prepare it for you, stay there."

Loki didn't look her in the eyes long enough to let her protest. He didn't want to. He honnestly didn't want to have The Conversation™️. He didn't want to hear how heart broken Nina had been when he faked his death, and he definetly didn't want her to know how much grief he had felt by doing so.

It would come, Loki knew of that. He simply thought that now was not te best moment. Nina was about to freeze to death and she had a stab wound he needed to heal.

Before going to the bathroom, Loki upped the hearing of a lot. He was going to warm the whole room up for her.

He walked to the small bathroom, making sure it was clean, and started to draw the bath. He set the water to warm, but didn't exactly know what temperature was best. Were it too cold, it wouldn't help her at all. Were it too hot, it might burn her, specially now that her body was at such a low temperature. He decided to settle for some water that he felt would feel right for him. He also had a very cold body temperature, so he used himself as a reference to prepare her bath.

He closed the drain and walked back into the room, where Nina was still laying under the covers, her eyes now softly closed. Her body was still shivering; the covers weren't of much help.

Loki walked to her and pulled the covers away, making her jump from both the movement and the fear. But her eyes soon were heavy once more. Loki realised how tired she was. Nina was barely able too keep conscious.

"Nina, wake up," he told her. Her body would make no efforts to warm up if she was asleep. Loki sighed and lifter her from the bed, holding her close to his body. 

She stiffened in his arms as he tried to set her down on the edge if the bath. He realised she had woken with a scare.

"It's alright," Loki tried to soothe her. He placed her down and she sat on the edge. Loki was standing in front of her. Loki looked down and the sight delighted him. Damnit it, he thought. This was not the time. He really wanted to help Nina, but his arousal was not helping him.

He decided to reach to his cape and untie it from her neck. When he reached to it, Nina grabbed his hand. She still had her head down, but her shaky hand now held his own close to her face. Loki esitsntly reached his other hand to her cheek, and she leaned into it.

Loki froze. What was he doing? He thought she would be mad at him, scream at him, not lean into his touch. Also, she was supposedly freezing to death. He needed to warm her up.

"I'm still mad at you," Nina told him. Her voice wasn't as shaky as it once had been. Maybe the heating from the room had helped her a little.

"I wouldn't expect anything else," he answered. Nina looked up at him, trying to keep a straight face, but soon enough the corners of her mouth lifted up. Loki used his hand on her cheek to slide down the hood on her head, and finally got a look at her face.

Nina looked so much more tired than she did last time. Which was weird, since it usually took hundreds of years for Time Lords to physically age, and the last time he'd seen her was barely 5 years ago.

He ran his fingers through her golden hair. It looked so much shorter. He wondered what had happened. Time Lords, just like Asgardians, had a tradition of keeping very long hair. In both cultures, long hair meant beauty, strength, and mostly freedom. Nina's hair was slightly over her shoulder blades. Last time, it had been to her waist. He wondered if she had chosen to cut it or if someone had forced her to.

Still, Loki thought she looked beautiful.

Obviously, he thought to himself. Of course he would find her beautiful. Nina was the one.

Frost Giants were a monogamous species. Not only did they marry for life, but they could only love one person. And Nina was Loki's person. She knew this from their last encounter in Asgard, and it didn't help that he had bonded then with the mind stone. He was helpless, was the easiest way to put it. All he wanted to do, at that moment, was to pulled her to him and kiss her. After five years, that's all he wanted to do.

So that's exactly what he did.