Frost
“I definitely need to wash my bedding.”
Loki laughed. “I can do that for you, you know.”
“What, and put the washing machine out of a job?” Ash smiled as she finally found the strength to push herself upright. “Anyway, knowing you, you’d make them green just to annoy me.”
Loki watched as she swept her hair out of her eyes, watching all the delicate curves of her body that he had become so used to having pressed to his own. He couldn’t remember making love to anyone so many times before, and now, he realised, she was the only person he ever wanted to make love to, ever.
He reached out and stroked his fingers tantalisingly against her hip, tracing the curve of her body to her lower back and loving the way she twitched slightly, shuddering against his touch.
“Loki,” Ash smiled, trying to be firm, but it was hard when he was touching her like that.
“What?” Loki asked, feigning innocence even as he grinned at her, his fingers moving up her spine now, stroking in between her shoulder blades. Ash sighed, closing her eyes and then flopped down beside him.
“You’re going to be the death of me, God of Mischief,” she murmured, snuggling against him, her lips briefly finding his before she nuzzled up to him. Loki smiled and brought his arms around her properly, pressing her close against him. He still couldn’t believe how easy this had been, to win her, but then, he reflected, most other women he had ever wanted had ignored him in favour of his brother. And something told him that even if Thor had been present all along, Ash still would have chosen him.
His heart stuttered.
Would she? There was still one thing she didn’t know.
He took a deep breath. “Ash?”
“Yeah?”
“You remember when I told you about...being a Frost Giant?”
Her eyes swivelled up to his. “Yes.”
Awkwardly, Loki eased himself out from under her and sat up. “Well, I didn’t quite tell you everything,” he admitted.
With a frown, Ash pushed herself up on her elbow. “What do you mean?”
Loki gave her a sad smile. “Frost Giants don’t look like us.” He got to his feet and closed his eyes tightly, balling his hands into fists, preparing himself for whatever her reaction might be. He just hoped that she wouldn’t scream. “This is my true form.”
Ash watched, slightly alarmed, as his skin began to turn from pale, ordinary flesh colour to grey blue, and she felt her jaw drop, but no sound came out. Loki tensed, awaiting her reaction, and when she still said nothing, he turned to her, opening his eyes to show her that they had turned from green to bright red, like they were on fire. Ash just looked at him, taking it all in, trying to decide how she was feeling about all this.
“They all look like that?” she managed to say, finally.
Loki nodded and then to his alarm she leaned forwards, one hand outstretched to touch him. He quickly flinched away, out of her reach. “Don’t!” She jumped, looking confused and Loki sighed. “I’ll burn you. My skin’s that cold.”
Ash lowered her hand, the look in her eyes unreadable. Not for the first time since learning the truth about his heritage, Loki felt ashamed of it.
“I can’t even touch you like this?” Ash asked, getting to her feet.
Loki shook his head. “Please...I don’t want to hurt you.”
Slowly, Ash reached up her hand, stopping it inches away from cupping his face, and looked straight into his eyes. She wasn’t afraid, Loki realised, she wanted to comfort him, wanted to show him that she was alright with this.
“Can you change back, please?” she whispered. “I want to touch you.”
“You’re not afraid of me?” Loki asked, his voice cracking slightly.
She shook her head. “You’re not a monster, Loki.” He looked away from her, a motion of disbelief. “You’re not.”
“You know all the things I’ve done,” Loki said, speaking to her reflection in the window rather than directly to her. It was painful to look at her in this form, especially at seeing her reaction to his revelation. “You saw the way I was when I first met you.”
“You were in a new place, and you were scared,” Ash insisted, firmly. “You reacted to the situation the only way you’d ever done back on Asgard. I’d have been the same.”
“You wouldn’t,” Loki replied, bluntly. His eyes fixed on hers in the window. “You’re human. You react to things like that the way humans do, with a lot of questions and fears. Frost Giant blood runs in my veins.” His fists tightened. “I inherited my nature from them.” He relaxed his hands with a sigh, ducking his head. “I’m a monster.”
“No,” Ash argued. “Loki, please look at me. You’re not.”
He finally swivelled his gaze to hers. “Yes, I am.”
Ash could only think of one thing to do to convince him otherwise, and that was to grab cup his face and kiss him. Loki quickly pulled away from her as she squeaked with the pain of being burned from his skin.
“You idiot!” he scolded, shifting back to his Aesir form so that he could grab her hands in his and examine them. His heart lurched. She had only touched him briefly, so the burns weren’t as bad as he had feared, not like Volstagg’s arm when that Frost Giant had grabbed him during their battle on Jotunheim, just reddened, like someone had thrown scarlet paint onto her hands. Her lips looked the same. The skin wasn’t blistered, though, thankfully, so they would soon heal, with some help. He quickly pulled her back onto the bed, conjuring up a pot of salve he had sneaked from the Healing Room not long before being thrown from the Bifrost Bridge, and thanking the Norns mentally that he had thought to do so. “What were you thinking?”
“Ow!” Ash murmured, touching the back of her hand to her mouth and shuddering.
Loki shook his head and turned her hand over to apply the salve. “This will heal them,” he said, not looking in her eyes. How could she have been so reckless? Especially when he had just warned her about what would happen if she did that? He shook his head, willing himself not to shout at her as he took her other hand and rubbed the salve into her palm. Ash watched him, trusting as a child, her eyes wide and innocent. Raising his eyes to hers, Loki gently applied the salve to her lips, which Ash willingly parted, slightly, to allow him better access.
“I panicked,” she finally said. “I didn’t know what else to say to make you believe me.”
“I told you it would burn you,” Loki replied, tersely. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”
“Because I didn’t think it would work if it was only for a second,” Ash replied, sounding slightly irritated that he was snapping at her.
Loki grasped her face firmly between his hands, fixing her with a look. “Never do that again. Next time it could be worse.”She nodded, once, briefly, and he released her, before wrapping her in a tight hug. “I’m sorry.” His voice was softer now. “I just care about you. I never want to hurt you.”
Ash gave a small sigh and then admitted “It was my own fault. I’m British, we just do daft things sometimes.” Starting wars in other countries for one, she reflected, but didn’t bother to mention it. “Sorry.” She buried her face in the crook of his neck. “I should have listened.”
Loki smiled. “On the plus side, you’re the first human who’s ever been brave enough to kiss a Frost Giant.”
“Well, in that case, I’m not sorry,” Ash said into his neck and he laughed. Raising her eyes to his, she managed a small smile of her own. “You don’t look like a monster like that, Loki. If that’s why people in Asgard freak out about Frost Giants, then there must be something wrong with them.”
“It’s not just that,” Loki replied. “Most of them are vicious by nature, savage, and terrifyingly good at winning battles, that’s why they’re feared so much in the Nine Realms. And being huge doesn’t exactly help matters.”
Ash giggled. “But you’re not huge,” she reminded him, kissing his shoulder a few times.
“Well, I told you, I was born too small, it happens,” Loki murmured.
Ash thought for a second. “Do you think you might have been premature?”
“That might have been something to do with it,” Loki replied. “I never found out.”
“Well, you’re the perfect size for me,” Ash murmured, hugging him.
“Oh, I know that,” Loki teased.
Ash closed her eyes. “That’s not what I meant and you know it, Loki.”
“Well, you should learn to be careful what you say,” he replied, grinning. Ash gave him a feeble punch and then snuggled against him. “How are you feeling now?”
“Tingly,” Ash replied, pulling away from him and glancing at her hands.
Loki nodded. “That means it’s working.”
Ash took a deep breath. “I’m glad you showed me. Shows you trust me.”
He smiled, gently, at her. “I trust you more than I’ve ever trusted anyone in my life before.”
Briefly, he wondered if Thor had felt like this with his Midgard girl, if he felt that in meeting her he had found the missing piece of his life he had been searching for all these years. Something told him that yes, he had.
Ash squeezed his hands, gently, in hers. “I trust you too, Loki. And I don’t care what you say, you may have done some bad things in your life, but you’ve done good things too.”
Loki raised his eyebrows. “Name one.”
“Saving me that night in the alley,” Ash replied. “Giving me personal space when you thought I needed it. Coming with me to face my family at New Year.”
“That’s three, I said one,” Loki teased, and she laughed.
“You’re always there for me when I need you,” she added, softly.
Loki ducked his head. “What about the time I abandoned you and you had a breakdown?”
Ash smiled, understandingly. “You only did that because you thought it was what I wanted. And you came back when you sensed I wanted you back.”
Loki raised one of her hands and pressed a kiss to her tingling palm. “I’m never leaving you ever again, Ash. I promise.”
She smiled, reached forwards and hugged him. Loki closed his eyes, loving the feeling of having her in his arms. When he had fallen into here from the Bifrost, he had thought that this would be the end of him, but it hadn’t been, it had been the door to a whole new beginning, a beginning involving the most wonderful woman who had ever existed. He badly wanted to tell her that he loved her, but was it too soon? After all, they had only been courting a few days.
“Loki?” Ash’s voice brought him back to the present.
“Yes, Ash?” he murmured.
“Will I still be able to eat and drink after that?”
Loki laughed. “Yes, you’ll be fine.”
“In that case, you can bring me a cup of tea,” Ash smiled, pulling away from him and clambering off the bed, reaching for his discarded shirt and pulling it over her head. She turned and grinned at his stunned expression. “After you’ve put the sheets in to wash.”
With a grin, Loki seized her around the waist and pulled her back down onto the bed. Ash laughed as he kissed her, passionately, before rolling her underneath him, giving her a tender look. “Thank you. For accepting me as I am, I mean.”
Ash smiled up at him. “God or Frost Giant, I don’t care, as long as you’re mine.”
“I’m yours forever,” Loki vowed, kissing her again.