ONLY FOR YOU | Loki

CHAPTER 15: WHAT THE HELL IS AUBERGINE?

(A/N: Hi! I changed the title and cover photo of the book, but I won't do it again, so don't be alarmed! While I'm here, though, what do you guys think so far?)

     THE FLOOR SUITS OLIVIA BETTER THAN THE COUCH, SHE THINKS. It's just so... unnecessarily long and lavish. So, instead, she's sitting on the rug with the couch at her back, working on her laptop.

     "First she says she wants sky blue, and then she changes her mind to sea green, and now it's aubergine," Olivia grumbles to herself.  "I've never even heard of aubergine."

     Bruce wanders silently into the living room, leaning over the edge of the couch to watch his sister work.

     "What, um— what are you doing?" he inquires, awkwardly. Olivia glances at him, internally cringing; this is gonna go great.

     "Client changed her mind about what color she wanted," she responds idly. "I don't know why she cares; half the customers can't tell the difference anyways." Bruce nods, but his brows furrow in confusion.

     "Well, um— how do you know what colors you're using? I thought you were... still soul-blind," he points out. Olivia's nose crinkles up just slightly, but she's definitely not about to tell him she's not.

     "I actually use this website," she explains. "It's for artists and designers, they have a collection of colors with their names. Yeah, you can even leave comments on the colors and stuff. A lot of people who can see color like to leave comments about where they usually see the colors." She turns her laptop, showing him the website she's talking about.

     "Huh," he hums, fascinated. "I didn't know that was a thing." She nods, turning her laptop back. Honestly, it's been very helpful over the last few years, even since she started seeing colors. She doesn't know too many color names just yet, seeing as how she only just started to see them at all.

     "It's pretty popular," she comments. Then, she squints at the comments. "Aubergine is just eggplant? Why didn't she just say that? I have that color saved already!" She sighs, completely exhausted. "Why are there so many names for the same five colors?"

     "It's uh, different shades," Bruce tells her awkwardly. Well, yeah, she knows that; but still, having 12 names for colors that are barely two shades apart seems excessive to her.

     "I guess," is all she says, applying the color and saving the file so she can email it to the client.

     "So, what's the job anyways?" he questions. "I mean, what's the color for?" Olivia pushes her laptop away, figuring she'll just email the client when Bruce leaves.

     "A menu," she replies idly. "The client's opening a little café in Arizona; she's selling some pretty good-looking pastries, actually." Bruce nods his understanding.

     "Sounds interesting," he volunteers idly. She shakes her head, a small smile gracing her face.

      "Turns out, not really," she denies. "There's a lot more talking involved than you'd think." He nods again, and they fall into silence.

     "Well, Tony called me, so I'm going down to the lab," he informs her. "If you need me, just let me know." She nods, waving goodbye as he leaves.

      "Yeah, you too," she agrees. The elevator doors slide shut, and she leans back against the couch thoughtfully.

***

     The door to the lab swings open, snatching Bruce and Tony's attention. Olivia walks in, holding three coffees.

     "This one's from Pepper," she tells Tony, handing him the one with no logo. "Bumped into her on the way in; figured I was coming anyways." He takes it, but she can see the beginnings of a pout on his face for a split second.