Stars Have Fallen - A Loki Love Story (Marvel/Avengers)

18

"Eggs are done!" Tony shouted, loud enough to startle Estrial once again. She jumped harshly to her feet before immediately growing calm again.

With an annoyed sigh, Loki stood as well. He placed his hand between Estrial's shoulder blades and began to gently lead her to the kitchen. "Must you be so loud?" He spat at Tony, "you've frightened her twice in the past ten minutes."

"Just testing out the new suit's capability to hold her," Tony responded, pouring the cooked eggs into a big serving dish. He pointed to Estrial with his spatula and asked, "how'd I do?"

The star smiled at him and responded quietly, "good, so far."

"Good," he affirmed. "I reinforced the 'fabric' to be stronger, and the controls are more precise this time. Hopefully you won't explode out of that one like with the other."

"Thank you," Estrial muttered, smiling a bit brighter.

Tony threw some eggs onto a plate and offered it to Estrial. "Hungry?"

The star took the plate and sat on a tall chair at the island. Loki sat beside her and watched Stark offer everyone else eggs except for him. He grinned in amusement, knowing the rich man was trying to annoy him. But in reality, Loki was content just sitting beside his star.

While Estrial ate, he smirked, an idea popping into his head. There weren't many fun tricks he could play without his magic, but there were a few. With the star's attention focused on her food, Loki slowly reached behind her and tapped her far shoulder. He quickly pulled his hand back when Estrial looked over her shoulder. When she realized no one was there, she turned to Loki with a look of confusion.

Pretending that he hadn't been paying attention, Loki looked to her with innocent eyes. "Is something the matter?"

Estrial squinted her eyes, trying to see through the possible deception. But she could not. She guessed that the new suit Tony had made for her, while it allowed her to look human, also dulled some of her senses down to a mortals as well. Except for her eyes, of course, which could still see the aura of joy around the demigod. And that joy spread to her. "I am okay," she replied with a smile before turning back to her eggs.

And for the rest of the day, Loki entertained himself by poking Estrial at random and leading her to believe it wasn't him. He found it absolutely precious how easily she believed him. It made him feel somewhat bad about tricking her, but it was too much fun.

• December 19, 2012 •

Estrial was in the middle of reading her dictionary this evening when she heard loud noises coming from further down the hall. She and Loki had been relaxing in their bedroom. Estrial looked up from her book with alarmed eyes. However, the God of Mischief simply remained still. He'd been sprawled gracefully across a two-seated sofa, reading a book of his own while Estrial sat in her bed.

"Don't bother yourself with it, Essy," he sighed, turning a page, "it's nearly Christmas; I'm sure they're just celebrating or something obnoxious."

There were a few minutes of quiet that followed. Loki flipped another page in his book before he heard Estrial's timid voice. "..Christmas?"

"Right," Loki huffed, recalling that the star had no idea what this holiday was. He closed his book and smiled crookedly over to Estrial. He gestured for her to come over to him from her spot on her bed.

She gladly obeyed, getting up and walking over to him. Moving his legs so that she could sit, Loki made himself comfortable on one half of the couch. Estrial sat beside him. She curled up in a thin blanket that had been folded on the arm of the sofa. Legs tucked under her body, Estrial faced him, eyes wide with curiosity. Loki was silent, deep in thought as his mind grew quickly distracted by how adorable she looked all wrapped in the blanket.

Estrial cocked her head to the side, a small motion that ripped Loki back into reality. He laughed a bit to cover up his embarrassment for staring. "Christmas, is a holiday," he began to explain, "it's a time where mortals give each other gifts and decorate trees with pointless, ugly trinkets."

"That sounds exciting," Estrial marveled, smiling wider than Loki had ever seen before. His breath caught in in his throat for a moment. It was rediculous to him, that someone could hold such power over him and not even have the slightest clue. He wanted to be angry about it, but for once, he didn't mind being overpowered.

"It's irritating, is what it is," Loki countered, trying to remain cool. But an idea popped into his mind, making his heartbeat accelerate. There was another thing that Christmas was to the human race, and he wanted to see how Estrial may react to hearing it. "It's supposedly..a time for romance," he told her, his voice sounding casual even though he'd never been more eager. "Which is completely ridiculous," he went on with a sigh, "the idea that romantic need grows stronger around the 25th of December. Pure madness."

Romance. Estrial recalled reading this word in her dictionary. Unlike many of the others, it had struck her special interest. She smiled, recalling the desirable definition.

"Awe, how sweet," Tony's voice came from the open doorway. Estrial and Loki both met his gaze across the room. He furrowed his eyebrows and asked the girl, "do stars do that kinda thing? Romance? Love? Make babies?"

"Stars are not meant to have emotion," Estrial answered.

"Ouch," Tony hissed, pretending to wince at the comment. Dramatically putting a hand over his heart, he asked, "you don't love me?"

Estrial scrunched her nose in confusion. "My feelings for you are...not romantic," she told him awkwardly.

Tony raised his eyebrows suddenly and smiled. "But you do have feelings?"