Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 2

Loki wasn't sure what to make of the strange little blind Midgardian. She was kind, unlike her father. She was also intelligent (which he had to grudgingly admit was quite like her father). Plus she had dissed Thor and that always raised Loki's opinion of someone.

She also couldn't see him. She couldn't see that he was stuck in jotun form.

She could see that he was a monster.

And wasn't that just interesting?

*

The next afternoon there was a soft knock on Loki's door. He looked over at the door confused. Thor just barged in if he wanted Loki. Wanda bounced in with no more than a polite tap before she entered. No one else bothered him.

He shut his book and went to the door to see who was there. And he was surprised to find Morgan on the other side. "Lady Morgan," he greeted her politely, if slightly warily. She'd been looking up, but not quite high enough, not quite expecting how tall he was. Loki reached out to place his fingers under her chin to tilt her head up, but he reconsidered at the last moment and dropped his hand again, suddenly shy.

She smiled up at him, though blushed a little when she heard his voice and realized she'd been looking at his chest instead of his face. "Hey, Loki. I just heard from dad that the team was called out for an overnight mission. So it's just the two of us tonight. I was going to order pizza for dinner, unless you want something else?" she offered. The team hadn't told Loki they were going out, assuming he wouldn't notice or wouldn't care, since he wasn't being dragged along. He barely left his room except to go on missions. However, Morgan had considered Loki and his feelings and wanted to make sure he had something to eat and that he knew where the others were.

Loki gave her a small smile, though he knew she couldn't see it. He was touched that she cared enough to find him to tell him what was going on. And to actually consider what he would want. "I would appreciate that, Lady Morgan," he told her with an unaccustomed warmth to his words.

She grinned up at him, lighting up with such an open joy that he wanted to pull this little Midgardian into his arms. But that was ridiculous. "Great!" she replied brightly. "I assume you're a carnivore like everyone else around here. I'll let you know when the pizza's here. Or are you going to do that overprotective male thing?" she teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

He chuckled as he considered going with her to protect her anyway, but there were other ways that wouldn't annoy her so much. "No, I will not. Though, would you kindly inform me once it arrives?" he asked, polite as ever.

She nodded. "I will," she agreed warmly and turned to leave him be, her cane sweeping the ground in front of her as she went and Loki couldn't help watching the interesting little Midgardian.

She called the pizza place when she reached the common room and waited for it to arrive on her usual couch. She was amazed that Loki was letting her go downstairs to meet the delivery guy alone. None of the other guys would've done that, even before she'd lost her vision. One of them always insisted on going instead, usually Cap. Never Thor alone.

She didn't know that Loki was planning on protecting her anyway. He just wasn't planning on being so obvious about it.

Jarvis informed her when the pizza arrived and she sent a message up to Loki's phone while she went to the elevator to head downstairs to get the pizzas. Loki received the message on the cursed Midgardian device, but Loki had kept the stupid device nearby since Morgan had come to talk to him. As soon as he received the message, an illusion of his Asgardian self appeared next to her. She was just getting in the elevator when his illusion materialized next to her.