A Tale of Mischief and Mutants part 2

The Mall

—-Loki—-

I'm currently in a very busy common room trying to figure out what I should be doing with myself. I'm not well equipped to be in a room full of children, teenagers, and young adults all playing games I don't recognize and speaking loudly with one another. I stand by Sam awkwardly, for once I'm the one who's more shy in a crowd. Suddenly some of Sam's closest friends come rushing over to us. I'm surprised I manage not to draw a dagger this time as Kurt teleports beside me. He startled me but then again I had been half expecting it this time.

"Are you ever not going to do that?"

He laughs.

"Sorry but probably not."

I smile slightly shaking my head. Jubilee is very excited to see Sam and apparently also me.

"Hey guys! It's so good to see you both!"

Jubilee hugs each of us I stand there stiffly as she does this. Laura smiles standing behind her friend shaking her head slightly at how overly affectionate Jubilee is being. When she notices me looking in her direction she gives me a slight wave looking somewhat apologetic for her friend's overwhelming personality. I roll my eyes as Jubilee pulls away she's trying to be sweet but honestly I wish she'd tone it down just a bit. I guess though I'd rather deal with this then have her fear me. Kitty looks between Sam and I.

"So what are you guys up to?"

Sam smiles at her friends fondly.

"Nothing much we just thought we'd come bother you guys for a while."

Kitty nods.

"Well we were planning on rounding up everyone from our old class that stuck around after graduating and going to the mall. We kinda made that a thing we do on occasion after you..."

Kitty pauses for a second looking regretful about bringing that up Sam smiles and indicates for her to move on from that mouthing the words 'it's ok'. She nods.

"Would you guys wanna come?"

Sam looks to me for approval before answering understanding how hostile going out and about in New York could be for me. I give her a hesitant nod I haven't tried that since our proposal. While I don't have very high hopes because of what happened even shortly after the Amora incident I'm still curious. Sam smiles warmly.

"Absolutely!"

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We hitch a ride in Laura's car Jubilee sits in the front next to her whilst Sam, Mary and I sit in the back seat. Kitty, Kurt, and Bobby along with Romeo who's also tagging along are taking a separate vehicle. When we arrive at the busy mall I'm somewhat filled with nerves as we walk up to the building.

'You'll be fine so long as you remember nothings changed, when they reject you don't let yourself break down like last time.' I nod to myself that voice is right. I just have to accept that I may never earn trust from civilians and appreciate the few people I know who for some reason choose not to reject me.

We shop for a while I see Sam is laid back with her friends here. She doesn't seem timid like she usually would be in such a busy public space. We visit multiple shops the most notable of which including a very strongly smelling shop selling lotions and soaps, a more darkly lit store with quite stylish clothing featuring characters from pop culture and band names, and a shop with black and white stripes decorating the interior selling makeup of every conceivable variety.

Sam and I would've quickly found ourselves weighed down by our purchases if not for my magic. I'm actually not having all that bad a time as we shop nobody's said anything to us yet though we've gathered some stares because of Kurt. The group eventually can't agree on what shop to visit next and as was probably inevitable splits up.

Sam and I find ourselves in a book store when I hear the familiar sound of excited whispers that would usually come whenever I'd go anywhere with Thor in public. I turn around to see a pair of women approaching me whispering excitedly to each other. One of them pushes the other towards me. The woman speaks nervously.

"Umm hi! I just wanna make sure I'm not tripping you're Loki right?"

'Ah they see I'm here so figure Thor can't be too far away.' Sam looks at us curiously from where she's been looking through books a couple shelves over.

"Yes I'm sorry my brother's not with me."

The women look confused for a second. The other one comes closer.

"Uhh we were actually wondering if we could grab a picture with you?"

'Me?!' I'm really quite shocked by this. I don't really know how to respond.

"I... alright."

The women giggle excitedly then take a picture with me with each of their phones. When they're done they quickly thank me and run off still giggling. I don't know when it appeared but I notice myself smiling widely as I look over at Sam. She smiles too and nods in silent approval before going back to book shopping.