Shine Again (An Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame Story)

Chapter 19: Not Normal

All Loki wanted to do was read. He didn't feel like that was asking for much. With half the ship's occupants out talking to the elves of Alfheim, he didn't think he would have this much difficulty trying to relax. All the loud crashing coming from the training area was proving to be incredibly distracting. He thought the lounge would be a nice place to read, as it would allow the occasional glance out the window at Alfheim's natural beauty, and now he couldn't help but think he would've been better off sitting in his room instead.

Just as he turned the page, there was another crash from the training room- this one loud enough to shake the sofa he was sitting on. Loki sighed, setting the book down on the cushion next to him. It was obvious he wasn't going to be getting much further in his book, so it was time to go investigate what was causing all the commotion. He wasn't sure how the girls and Korg could be so loud but he was going to get to the bottom of it.

He stood and made his way to the training room, unaware of what he was walking into. He took a deep breath as he slowly opened the door. Once he was able to see what was occurring inside the large room, Loki was no longer even remotely shocked about the crashing anymore. It seemed Brunnhilde had organized a training session and they were all practicing sparring. Right now, Layla and Brunnhilde were in the center of the room, locked in hand-to-hand combat. Spencer was sitting off to the side, wrapping her knuckles in some medical tape. Meanwhile, what was perhaps the most amusing was Anja and Korg. The two of them were sitting on a bench against the wall, having some sort of animated discussion about something.

Loki made his way over to the bench and sat down next to Anja, who was too busy talking to Korg to even notice he had entered the room. He watched her with a smile on his face. He couldn't help it. When Anja was in a good mood, it was pretty damn contagious.

"Okay, so what I just put on your head is a set of wireless earphones. They allow you to listen to music without being attached to the device playing it," she explained, showing him her phone. "So when I push this button, you'll be able to hear music." She waited for Korg to nod before hitting the button. "You hear it?"

Korg nodded again, and then found himself bobbing his head along to the beat of the song. "I like this stuff. What is it?"

Anja glanced at her phone screen, and answered with a small laugh and a smile. "Looks like it's Eminem."

"Catchy," he replied, still nodding along. "Is this what you listen to on Earth?"

"Sometimes. There's a wide variety of music on Earth; you heard some of it during the New Year's party. I like to think I have a pretty good assortment on my phone. Something for every occasion." She shrugged lightly. "You can borrow my stuff for a while. Just be careful to not break it. I'll be sad to be without my music," Anja offered, handing the Kronan the device. "Helps keep me sane."

"Thank you, Miss Anja. I will be careful." Korg stood, and made his way over to Spencer, leaving Anja sitting there with Loki, even though she still hadn't noticed him.

He decided to change that. "You just introducing everyone to Midgardian music now?"

Anja nearly leapt from her seat as she turned to look at him. "Trying to give me a heart attack? How long have you been sitting there?"

"Only a couple minutes," Loki admitted, a small smile on his face. "Thought since I couldn't get any reading done that I would come see what the commotion in here was all about."

Anja nodded. "Ah, yes, the crashing. Um... Tony and Thor thought we should get some practice with combat and using our powers since it has been a while. Just in case we need to use them, you know?"