A Mother's Love

Chapter 18

As I relax on the couch of the safe house, Natasha walks Loki around the house. She currently stands in the kitchen to my left.

She opens the fridge and explains "We've stocked it, but if you need something, just shoot me a text and I'll pick it up for you, if you don't want to go out."

Loki gives a soft smile, before Natasha furrows her brow and explains "This address is in a secure file, so we'll be safe, okay?"

He nods, before Barton pulls himself up to sit on the counter "What do you think of the place?"

Loki looks around, before nodding "It's nice." He looks to Stark and asks "Are most Midgardian homes like this?"

Stark shrugs "Most American homes, minus the safe room."

Loki hums, before Jane looks to me and asks "Where are your parents?"

"Arguing to get the Tesseract back." I state, before remarking "Father wishes he has some level of power."

Loki gives a weak smile, before I look to Darcy and ask "You staying for the bonfire?"

She looks to Jane and asks "Are you?"

Jane shrugs and Barton states "Free booze."

~

As we sit between the house and the bonfire on lawn chairs and benches, Jane sits next to me and hands me a large beer mug and explains "Beer with six bumps."

I give her a warm smile, before Loki asks "What's in that?"

"Whiskey." I state, before asking "Wanna try it?"

From his lawnchair, be reaches over and I hand it to him. He adjusts in his chair to cross his legs and avoid from knocking Jory's basket from the foot of the relaxed lawnchair.

When he takes a gulp, he furrows his brow and hands it back, before declaring "I don't like that."

Jane motions back towards the house "We've got some other drinks. Are you a wine guy?"

Loki shrugs, before I remark "Loki was more of a stoner than a drinker."

Fandral scoffs "That's for sure."

Hogan smirks "That stupid hookah."

Loki narrows his gaze and asks "Exactly, how many times did you take hits off my hookah?"

Volstagg narrows his gaze "Every time we partook in one of your orgies."

Loki gives a smug look, before reminding "That's an awful fucking lot, in case you forgot."

Darcy gives a shocked look, before asking "Orgies?"

Sif looks to her and explains "Loki is the underground party boy of Asgard. Anything you needed, he could get it."

Fandral tells her "Even leaves from Yggdrasil."

Loki presses his lips into a fine line, before looking to Odin and Frigga. Odin gives him a knowing look "You started plucking the dead leaves off the ground when you were eight hundred and fifty."

Loki explains "Each leaf is a life. With the cholera, typhus, and yellow fever, leaves were falling left and right from the Midgard sector."

Sif continues "The leaves are rather intoxicating, much like morals marijuana."

Volstagg smirks "Loki's hookah was always packed with leaves from the tree of life."

Loki furrows his brow and explains "The hookah doesn't work well with the leaves, but I preferred it to smoking a cigar."

Fandral shrugs, before reminding "If there were more than thirty people there, we'd close the green stained glass windows, torch a bucket of leaves, hot box the chamber, and get right down to business."

Loki nods, before declaring "Fun times. Fun times."

We slip into silence for a moment, before he sighs "I need a drink."

Darcy waves him off, before declaring "I'll get you something."

When she walks back into the house, I ask "Didn't you get hot in there, with all the smoke?"

He shrugs, before declaring "I was a masochist." He looks down at the sleeping Jory, before sighing "Keyword, was."

Fandral furrows his brow in confusion, before asking "What changed?"

The other three glare at him, before Loki takes in a deep breath and explains "I've always been the one of us to take on the burden of torture, because nobody had the ability to scar me, mentally and physically."

Odin in furrows his brow and asks "What could scar you, physically?"

Loki takes in a deep breath, before declaring "I don't know... it appeared to be some type of ash." He looks over Odin, before declaring "If you were asking for a possible way to execute me, I couldn't tell you what it was, besides the fact that they ran out, and that's why they put me under the scepter's control."

When Darcy returns with a large glass of red wine and a glass of white, she gives him a choice "Dry red or sweet white?"

He looks up to her and asks "Which do you prefer?"

She taps the red with a finger, before Loki gently takes the white. She gives a weak smile, before motioning towards the stool next to him "May I?"

He nods, before she takes a seat.

After Stark starts a conversation with Odin and Frigga, I can hear Darcy ask Loki "So, you slept with your friends?"

Loki furrows his brow and nods, before explaining "I was a bit lustful and gluttonous, for awhile. I was sexualized much too early."

She gives a weak smile, before declaring "Me too."

Loki looks to her in concern, before asking "Would you like to talk about it?"

She looks to him for a moment, before asking "Later?" He gives a short nod, before she changes the subject "So you're gay?"

Loki shakes his head, before declaring "I fancy everything that can speak consent."

Darcy gives an understanding hum, before offering her drink. When Loki takes a sip, he furrows his brow and nods "I like wine."

Darcy scoffs, before drinking a bit more. She looks to him and declares "You scared me, when we first met."

He gives a confused look, before reminding "All I said was hello."

She shakes her head, before declaring "You were very intimidating, and you know it."

He shrugs, before remarking "It's fun, fucking with people, just a bit."