my mortal 🐍✨🖤

chapter 4

Loki kept getting signals of the tesseract close by, following every sense he got. He trudged through a bare desert area in some suburban part of the city, muttering curses under his breath. Finally, he came across a gate encircling a neighborhood and sighed.
"I guess I'll just have to get over it. Literally and figuratively."

Sophie dragged her bike up the hill of her street exhausted from her night shift at work and glad to finally have time to rest, when she saw a man dressed in black climb over the gate at the end of the block. She froze in fear. She'd never seen anyone do such a strange and threatening thing in this isolated area. Adrenaline kicked in, but instead of running or attacking, she slowly approached the struggling figure. It was quite a funny sight since he was having such a difficult time getting over, flipping upside down at one point. When he reached the ground he dusted himself off and spun around ready to get back to his mission. They came face to face with a significant distance between them. Their eyes grew big and a huge blush formed on his face.
"You?!" She shouted.
"Again?!!" He groaned.
"What on earth were you just doing??"
He gulped. He realized she probably witnessed his embarrassing struggle.
"Uhm *ahem* I was j-just getting over the gate, it should be fairly obvious." He said straightening out his jacket. It was odd, he was usually quite good at crafting obscure yet believable excuses but he couldn't. He was flustered.
She was too exhausted, she couldn't even think to question his suspicious intentions. She walked over to her garage and opened it, not knowing he was approaching her.
After entering she turned to shut the door but screamed at the sight of him in her garage looking at all the little things stored inside. He jumped when she screamed.
"What do you think you're doing? You need to get out of my garage!" She shouted.
"Well frankly, I don't know what a "guraj" is and would love to learn more!" He joked nonchalantly as she tried to push him out.
"This is illegal behavior!!" she said as she struggled to push him out.
He felt it right then and there. It was a strange spark. The tesseract. It had to be in this "guraj". He impulsively acted.
"Would you like to go for a nice evening stroll, m'lady?" He asked very gentlemanly.
"Are you kidding, it's almost 10!" She countered, though his British accent, soft voice, mysterious smile and charming eyes were irresistible and magnetic.
"Well I believe time is subjective. Oh come now, I'll make it worth your time."
"I don't even know who you are, this is quite dangerous you know."
"Perfect opportunity to learn, wouldn't you agree?"
Though tired and fully aware this was the wrong thing to do, she tiredly agreed, grabbing her soft blanket in the garage.
(I don't encourage this at all if a stranger comes up to you at nIGHT after trESPASSING and asks to go on a walk aLONE never ever agree, no matter how dashing. I'm sure you already know this but it's important so)

They hopped the fence again, both having trouble, laughing and tripping during the entire process. Loki was helping her get down when she fell right on top of him. He caught her before she got hurt, her laughing with embarrassment while he just laughed along, face as red as his brother's cape, though invisible in the dark. She clumsily thanked him and he replied with a snarky "youd better be" as they walked through the bare desert under the stars, sophie with the blanket around her shoulders and Loki with his hands casually behind his back.

"You know, it's strange. I don't even know your name."
"Ah well, my apologies! I am Loki Laufeyson of Asgard." He said proudly.
"What a unique name. And Asgard? Doesn't ring a bell. Is that in Arizona?" She asked curiously.
He smirked. The silly little human wouldn't be able to comprehend the truth.
"It's a bit far from here." He started simply.
She nodded. "Well I'm Sophie Jensen. Of Phoenix..?" She said, uncomfortable with this new way of introducing oneself.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He said with a small bow and a smile. Not expecting this, she awkwardly reciprocated the movement, stumbling over her own foot.
"I'm so tired, I'm sorry." She claimed.
He just softly chuckled.
They spoke to each other about their basic general lives such as family life. Loki tried his best to keep his god status lowkey, aware of mortals' lack of ability to understand.
"Wow your brother sounds like a jerk."
"Yes, I suppose. One day I'm sure I'll get my revenge."
Eventually they reached the park and sat by each other on a bench, with considerable distance between them. She looked at the beautiful cloudy night sky while talking about her future dreams and aspirations. He watched her with such interest, catching himself.
'What the hell do you think you're doing? Pull yourself together Loki, you have one job and nothing can get in your path to power.' He thought internally.
".. and when that happens, I know I'll be able to spend even more time with Dug, and.. and.. 13 beezees.."
With that final nonsensical thought, she collapsed right onto his shoulder softly breathing heavily. His heart skipped 2 beats and he couldn't breathe. He felt his entire body just freeze completely and rise in temperature. What was going on with him? Was he ill?? No. He knew exactly what it was. But he refused to admit it. He couldn't help but admire her cute face and button nose as she peacefully slept a deep sleep right on his shoulder. He scooted closer to her so she would have more support and allowed himself to sink into the moment. He made sure the blanket didn't fall off of her shoulders.
As risky as this was, he couldn't help but enjoy this experience that he had never been through before.

Now this was living.