The Scientist (Loki x OC)

Pt. 18: Prayer and Offering

Luna suppressed a sneeze and did her best to not get water all over the kitchen floor. Having been home from work for about a half an hour, she took it upon herself to clean the jacket of Loki's suit. With enough leftovers in the fridge to choose from, there was no need to make anything new. Loki sat in the armchair by the window, taking advantage of the dying light from the outside to read. At least, it looked like he was reading. From Luna's perch on the counter, she peered over at him now and again, and occasionally, he did the same to her.

She had done the front and part of a sleeve when Loki popped in to refill his water glass.

"What are you even using to clean that with?" He questioned, taking a sip of his ice water. Luna glanced at him and kept at her task.

"Just soap and water and a spot of rubbing alcohol wherever there's a particularly stubborn spot." She pointed to a bottle with the hand holding the scrubbing pad. He hummed at her response and decided to stay and watch her work. Luna wet a paper towel with the alcohol and rubbed hard at a dark mark on the cuff. "What would you usually use to clean your stuff with back on Asgard?"

"I took to using magic, but we had servants trained to clean our clothing."

"Must have been nice having people do everything for you." Luna's hands ceased their cleaning as she thought about how she may look to him at the moment. She looked up and pointed at him. "Ok, now don't start getting ideas." Loki let out a dry laugh.

"Of course not. This is your home and treating you as lesser would be highly undiplomatic of me."

Luna regarded his statement and cringed inwardly at the slight tickle she felt in her heart. With the bar set so low, any amount of decent respect could be cause for celebration, but she forced herself to stop. He was right. Treating her like a slave in her own home would be entirely disrespectful and instantly warrant her kicking him out of her house and life. Luckily, she hasn't yet found a reason to think about doing that.

She resumed rubbing the spot out of his sleeve but kept up the conversation with him. "So, it's been about a month since you got here."

"You're very observant."

"Uh-huh, so how have you been doing?" Loki straightened his stature and looked away from her.

"Just fine."

"Are you sure? Losing your magic and your home all in a short amount of time isn't an easy thing to deal with."

"Why do you care?" He said defensively. Luna put the scrubbing pad down and looked him in the eye.

"Because, for the time being, this is your home too and I want to make sure you feel comfortable here." She tried answering him in a way she would like to be spoken to. It seemed to work on him so far.

"I've dealt with harder. Asgard isn't a place; it's a people." Loki paused and crossed his arms. "And concerning my magic, it's not so much losing it as who took it. Sorcerer thinks he's better than me. He's not." He glowered, making Luna scoff a bit.

"He doesn't have to be better. This is his turf, and you're on his danger list," she paused before adding, "for now."

"I can't stand cow-toeing to him."

Luna returned her gaze to the garment on her lap and resumed its cleaning. "You don't have to cow-toe to him. All you need to do is hold out on causing trouble and make him see that you mean no harm."

"He should know I don't. I have no other reason to come here."

"He'll see eventually." She looked up at him over the rim of her glasses. "Remember, Loki, he's Dr. Stephen Strange."