MAGIC AND CROWNS ; loki

xxxii. true old friend

- - -

"You're doing it all wrong" she cried

"I'm not!" he yelled as he aggressively brought the spoon and the chopsticks to his mouth

"No, you drink it first, then eat the thing" she argued for the third time, hardly keeping her face straight

"But then it's so dry, and it makes no sense" he whined, pushing the woman away from him

"It was cooked in the soup for like half an hour before it was even served, how could it possibly be dry" she laughed, careful not to throw the tray's contents on them as she reached towards the god again

"No, get away from me, your habits revolt me" he joked, giving in quickly and letting her hold him tightly

"My habits revolt you? Mr. 'I brush my teeth just before breakfast so I can mix the bitterness of the coffee with the mint of the toothpaste'? That's revolting" she said, sitting up slightly higher against the headboard

"I-" he opened his mouth to carry on discussing, but instead, Cora shoved a dumpling in his mouth, "okay" he mumbled with a mouthful

"In my defence", she jumped in while he struggled to swallow, "i know it's not the only right way to eat it, but once, my mom cooked it and she ate it like that, so, i guess my seven year old brain just assumed that was the only right way to do it" she shrugged nonchalant, though it made Loki make a double take, as he always did in the rare occasions she would mention her mother

Wordlessly, he brought the bowl they were sharing and sipped the delicious vegetable soup, and when he was done, he ate another - soupless -dumpling. He set it down in the tray then cuddled back next to Cora who had the happiest pout in her face

"Did i do it right?" he asked with a loving smile

"I-" she stopped herself, and instead kissed him sweetly. Not being able to say the words didn't stop her from showing him, and it seemed like he got the message, because she swore she felt him mumble a soft "me too" against her lips

- - -

"Levin, shoulders squared, fix your posture" she exclaimed from the other side of the room

"Yes, Cora" came the polite yet loud response

After some royal lunch, she quickly dressed into her old asgardian clothes, and made her way to wherever Frigga had told her the magic classes came to be, and now there she was, an hour and thirty five minutes in, she was exhausted

"Koran, stop trying to get into Claude's head and focus on transformation" the woman said without as much as looking in the direction of the pair

"Sorry, Cora" was the sheepish reply

"Teaching is so hard" she whined as she plopped against the wall

"You did alright with me" replied Lenora, expecting the class after having memorised everything in the first ten minutes

"Oh, I did now, huh?" the still incognito queen challenged

"Shit, what did i do?"

"Well, I think i remember teaching you how to properly put barriers on people's minds" she exhaled calmly

"Yeah, of course you did, mom, it was like the first thing i learnt", she said immediately, "you went straight from moving little flowers to 'and now, we learn how to manipulate and control others for our own gain and or protection', remember?" she laughed

"Firstly" she raised a finger, "you make me sound awful" she complained, which earned a shrug from her daughter, "secondly, seems like you forgot, 'cause miss agent red and miss witch red ambushed me last night calling me a queen, and guess where Wanda got the memo from?" she paused sarcastically, "oh, yeah! spiderling" she smiled, while Lenora's face showed she understood what she meant.