Loki's Warrior

Chapter 5: Loki, God of Fear

Dinner goes by in a blur, mostly because I don't speak or look up from my food once in fear that I will catch Loki's gaze. My parents ask him questions about Asgard and himself, mostly he's hesitant to answer. Every once in awhile my mother will stop to fill up her wine glass or my father will grab another helping of mashed potatoes.

I don't look up to see if Loki is enjoying the simple human food, but considering that he stops mid sentence I would assume he's eating. By the time my plate is empty everyone else seems to be finished as well. I make the journey into the small kitchen to rinse my plate off, letting the soapy water burn my hands for a moment.

There's so much I want to ask him, but now just the thought of talking to him made my insides feel fluttery and sick. I don't think I could ever forget how his cold hands felt on mine, the ways his eyes danced as he gazed over me. I played the while memory in my head about a dozen and a half times before my mother turns off the faucet.

"You're wasting water." She grabs the wet plate from me, replacing it with a light blue hand towel. I wipe my hands off with it. "So... Loki."

"I really don't want to talk about him. He's just a friend." I say with more anger than I meant to put out, my mother startled. I feel instantly bad knowing I had scared her. "Sorry."

"He seems to like you, y/n." Mother puts the plate back into the dark wooden cabinet. It was not out of the ordinary for her to say that a boy liked me, she had done it all my life. Whenever she saw a boy around my age she would make it seem like he had the wildest crush on me, but this one made my blush.

"How do you know?" I prod, wanting to know what signs Loki was putting down that I wasn't picking up. I've never had anybody express interest in me the way that Loki was.

"He looks at you in a very protective way. I'm surprised you hadn't noticed." I quickly look to the doorway to the dining room, but luckily my father and Loki are talking to each other.

"Protective?" I'm in awe over my mother's words. There was no way he looked at me with protective eyes, more like anger or hatred.

"Yes, sort of like you're his puppy or something." She laughs an overwhelmingly sweet laugh, not meaning to make me upset but it does.

"I don't need his protection. I can fend for myself. I'm a warrior, not a puppy."

"Whoa, no need to become so defensive. I was just making an observation." She places both of her palms on either of my cheeks, leaning in to kiss my forehead with soft lips. "So quick to defend yourself."

"I don't like when people underestimate me."

"Yes, I remember." Father walks into the kitchen, setting his plate in the sink and giving mother a kiss on the lips. As mature as I may be it still grossed me out.

Loki leans against the doorway, reaching his arms up to stretch while he yawns. His sweatshirt lifts up just enough to see a few bottom inches of his stomach. There's a v-shaped muscle that trails down his hips and disappears into his sweatpants, his skin smooth and hard. My breath catches in my throat and I have to cough, covering my mouth with the crook of my elbow. Was I seriously blushing over this man stretching? There was no way.

"You can sleep in y/n's bedroom, if you wish to spend the night." Mother notes.

"We were just stopping by for dinner, we should probably get back to Asgard before a war break out." I oblige.

"Asgard is perfectly safe in the hands of Heimdall and Odin." My father chimes in. I knew what he said was true but to be honest spending another day here didn't seem all that bad.