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

33

When Estrial's glow died down back to it's usual neutrality, Loki sighed and let her go. But he kept his hands on either side of her neck, tilting her face to look up at him. He searched her eyes for any hints on her current emotional state. "Are you alright?" He asked in a surprisingly serious tone.

The star blinked a few times. Loki's cold hands on her neck and jaw bone were the only things keeping the heat from rising to her cheeks. His face was close to hers. Very close. She nodded shyly and muttered, "I am okay now."

Thor slipped off his oven mitts and made his way over to check on the star as well. Jane followed with a bit more caution. "I'm guessing that was the whole..exploding, thing you mentioned," she assumed.

"How observant of you," Loki responded sarcastically.

Before anything else could be said, a stampede of Avengers rushed into the kitchen. Having heard the smoke alarm going off, they'd come to see what the commotion was all about. But by the time they arrived, everything looked normal, other than the shaken Estrial. "What just happened?" Steve asked.

"Estrial had another incident," Thor explained, "but everything is fine now." He turned to the star with an encouraging smile and asked, "yes?"

"..Yes," Estrial squeaked, showing off her own small grin.

"Yeah, but what happened?" Tony repeated, then clarified, "nothing's burning, why'd the alarm go off?" He then added in confusion, "and who deactivated it? No offense, but I don't have any of you are cleared to fully operate Jarvis."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Well, I think...Estrial did," he answered. He then smirked and reminded, "she is quite powerful; it wouldn't surprise me if she could override your petty technology."

Before Tony could make a nasty remark, Thor jumped in. "And, the cookies were burnt, so..." He trailed off as he looked over to the tray of burnt cookies. Except, they weren't burnt any more. They were crisp and white, sparkling with sugar on their tops. And now that he noticed that, it became apparent that the smoke was gone as well.

"They don't look burnt," Natasha remarked in confusion.

Jane cocked her head in curiosity. "But..they were.."

Loki looked down at the transparent Estrial in astonishment and asked, "did you do that?"

"I..am unsure," Estrial murmured, also quite surprised. She thought back to the reason she over-powered. The smoke alarm had startled her, it went off because of the smoke, which came from the burnt cookies. Was it possible that she'd reversed the event subconsciously with her explosion?

Bruce nodded, seeming impressed. "So you can unburn food," he observed, "that'll come in handy." He walked casually over to the stove, followed by Tony.

Picking up a cookie, Tony took a bite. He smiled in approval and exclaimed with his mouth full, "the cookies are good, too; really good."

The scientist watched Tony shove the rest of the cookie into his mouth, thinking deeply about something. "So nothing's wrong?" Natasha asked for clarification. When she recievd a shrug from Thor and a nod from Estrial, she sighed and smiled. "Well, I'm going back to training then," she announced, nudging Steve with her elbow, "you coming?" The two then walked off together.

There was a moment of quiet before Bruce finally spoke his mind. "I wanna do some more tests with you, Estrial," he told the star, "I think we've been overlooking your, um..defense mechanisms. They could be something more than bursts of light."

Estrial hesitated, which promped Loki to speak instead. "You saw how grand that worked out last time," he sneered, "it's common sense; some power is better left unexplained."

"No, I don't mean like last time," Bruce clarified, making his way over to the pair. "No needles, no stress," he explained, "I just think we should get a feel for what she can do. And I think she'd like that, too." He looked down at the ghostly star with a kind smile.

There was no doubting Estrial's curiosity in herself. If Bruce wanted to help her figure her power out, she would gladly allow it. "Yes, I would," she responded.

After that, there was no arguing for Loki. She'd made her decision, and he would be with her the whole way. "That's a great idea, actually," Tony piped in, grabbing another cookie. "I'll start putting some points together, stuff we already know."

"And I'll work on some safe, contained situations we can test Estrial in," Bruce added, emphasizing the words 'safe' and 'contained', then asked the star, "okay?"

Estrial smiled. "Okay." Tony then left with Bruce.

"Do they ever stop working?" Jane wondered in amusement, "it's Christmas Eve."

Thor chuckled in response before walking back over to the baking area. "Needn't worry yourself about their hobbies," he assured, removing the remaining cookies from the sheet with a spatula, "but I quite like this, baking. Shall we continue?"

Jane smiled as she walked over to her love. Estrial looked wary, however, not wanting to go back over to the stove. Noticing this, Loki took her hand. "Go on without us," he told his brother as he began to lead Estrial out of the kitchen.

"Brother, we're having so much fun; stay, won't you?" Thor asked cheerily, seeming unphased by what had just happened ten minutes ago.

Loki stopped walking for a moment and looked to the other demigod with a protective gaze. "She's still shaken," he remarked, refering to the timid star that squeezed his hand tightly, "and I don't blame her. That's enough for today."

"Right," Thor stated with an awkward frown. He silently scolded himself for being insensitive. "Well, you go ahead and rest, Estrial," he told her before his eyes landed back on his brother, "and Loki...take care of her."

Loki rolled his eyes at Thor, replying in a tone that sounded almost shy, "I always do."