On a cold autumn day, going to Ikea perhaps isn’t the best idea, mainly because everyone else wants to go on the exact same time, when they decide to, but it’s not the worst either, especially when it’s with his beloved girlfriend or fiancé, when he decides to gather enough courage to ask her…
“Oh, this display could work” Sif exclaims and drags him inside the pop-up bedroom display, “There’s nice lighting, the bed seems soft and-” She sits promptly onto the mattress and slowly sinks into it. “Yeah, this one works nicely, not too soft,” she continues. He chuckles and rests upon the bed. displayed for all to see, his feet almost at the end.
“Hmm. No Sif, I can barely fit in this. Let’s find another” Loki states, “and it’s too low to the ground.” He stands, takes a look around the room. She quirks an eyebrow after him, when he points at the nightstand lamp, by her side. “Take this one dear, I like that one.” She’s forced to leave the lovely bedroom, trying different beds with Loki can take so much time, he’s very picky about the ‘right’ bed, it’s either too squeaky, which won’t do whenever they are having fun under the cover of darkness - or it’s too soft, and absolutely no foam mattresses. He’ll never get up to work with that. But sh’e not complaining since she gets to choose everything else, from carpet to wallpaper. She trails after him deeper into Ikea.
They’ve been trying out every mattress in the store now, twice, and there’s alot of mattresses on display. It’s like Goldilocks trying out the bears’ bed, but worse.
“Ok, I get that you need the right top-mattress, but why can’t we just lay the old one on top of the IDANÄS? You know, the one we already have?” She quite liked the 3rd one they tried. Or the one available in the bedroom display they tried before venturing into mattress land.
He whips around to face her. “You know what? I don’t think Ikea will do it. I have to research some more. It's a shame that the mattress we currently have isn’t in production anymore, and Odin’s connections aren't cutting it. Sorry for wasting your time, my love.” He reaches out to grab her by the arms and pulls her close. His eyes staring deeply into hers, before his mouth stretches into a smile. “Ikea meatballs?”. Her stomach informs him of her answer.
Two weeks have flown by and in that time Loki has managed to find a mattress suitable for him - and her - and it is now finally ontop of their shared bed. Besides that the rest of the bedroom has gotten some upgrades as well. New slidedoor closet, the lamp he liked ontop of a simple birch-wood nightstand and some much simpler lightblue-grey wallpaper to replace the white and set the mood for the coming colder months. “So now that that’s done with…” Loki starts, while gathering the last of the bubblewrap and throwing it out the door. “I propose that we take a nice long winding down, ontop of our new mattress?” Sif can’t help but let a chuckle out, especially when she sees him wiggle his eyebrows. “Or you can give me a kiss and we will see where that takes us”.
The coffee on the kitchen counter is getting cold.
Sleeping in that bed, gets better and better, but for some reason every morning since getting it Sif’s been feeling nauseous, no appetite in the morning and having lower back pains. She doesn't think much of it, because it always seems to disappear during the day. She just can’t wait to get some coffee into her at this early hour. Loki roasts the best beans. He is like a wizard with the coffee machine, usually she just makes a french press pot, but he somehow speaks to the beans in order to coax out the most delicious juice out of them. His latte art is truly almost art with a capital A. Her favourite one is a racoon with a gun leaning against a cute tree. It’s cute and badass at the same time. Yet she can’t fathom how he’s got the skills to make such detail with milk.
While she waits for the nausea to disappear, she puts her phone away to meet Loki in the kitchens, a hot steaming cup of coffee is ready for her, and Loki is taking his sweet time with the cake decoration. His tongue sticking out as he puts the finishing touches on it. “It looks amazing”, she says while snaking her arms around his torso, he hums in response and puts down the frosting bag. He pushes them both a step back in order to take in his masterpiece. “It tastes amazing too” He quips with a small smile. He takes up a knife “Do you want a slice, Sif? I got some leftover cake from when I cut this thing out.” She leans closer, her cheek brushing his shoulder, the smell hits her like a wave and she has to step back, the nausea is back. “No thanks, I’m good”. Pulling out a barstool from the bar counter, she parks herself there and tries to fight the remaining nauseating feeling before fleeing to the bathroom.
Loki hurries after her, “Are you alright?”. “I’m fine” is the muffled response through the door. He hesitates, “Should I call the doctor, you’ve been acting off lately”, he places a hand on the silver doorknop. “No it’s okay. You should just take all the cake with you, you’ll be late for your shift.” Loki firmly answers that he can be late if he wants to, they can’t actually fire him anyway. But he eventually shuffles out the door, after she persistently tells him, through the bathroom door, to get moving. He yells that she can always call him if there’s anything that he needs to do or get for her on his way home.
“One macchiato, for…Thoknee”, A loud voice yells out, the drink in a large hand, belonging to no one other than the co-owner of this fine establishment:”The Golden City roastery”. The bell chimes softly, as the door closes behind Loki. A guy with a goatie in a black leather jacket up to the counter. “The name is Tony. But points for trying, big man.” He walks up grabs a toothpick and the drink, passing Loki on his way out. “Nice cake.” Loki hears behind him. Loki nods his thanks and gets behind the counter, placing the cake in the display and gets ready for work. “Hey, brother.”, his brother, Thor, places a warm hand on his shoulder. “You forgot your scarf last night. I put it in the blanket basket. Still don’t get why you call it a scarf. That thing is huge”. His hands make a large motion gesture to hammer his point home.
“I hoped it would be here, Sif might need it.” Loki glances over at the aforementioned basket, discovering that his large wool scarf indeed is amongst the other blankets. “Remind me that I need to take it home, when I leave.”
At some point in the middle of rush hour at the roastery, the place gets filled up completely, every seat is occupied from students to business people from every corner of the city, seeking temporary shelter from the cold autumn days outside. The spiral staircase leading up to the 2nd and 3rd floor are also filled with great energy from the sounds of it, Thor comments that Fandral and Hogunn are having a great time leading the upstairs team. Thor's shoulder bumps into him, exclaiming “Once again, your cake is selling like magic!”, “I hope so! Put alot of effort into it. The tricky thing was the glaze, it’s hard to make it all mirror like. But I’m glad it works.” he answers with a proud smile. He gets to work on the next order. “By the way, how is Sif? Haven’t really spoken to her since last week, when she dropped by.” Thor inquires. Loki waits a few minutes before answering, “She’s been a little off lately, I’m worried she might be down with some sickness, food poisoning or the like, but she keeps telling me that-”. Loki cuts himself off when he spots Thor walking to the register to engage in another customer. He shakes his head, letting his words die on his tongue, before resuming work. He can tell Thor when the rush has slowed down.
They are about to close up shop, letting the last customers know that it is time to leave, although they are reluctant to. Several of them comment that: “It’s just so cozy and warm here, we are having such a great time!” The bell chimes once again, and Loki sighs, opening his mouth to say that they’re closed before a loud voice rings out, “SIF! So wonderful to see you again!” Thor brushes past him and gives her a big hug, before ushering the rest of the customers out, giving them a charming smile, hoping they don’t take offense that seemingly a new person gets to stay while they don’t. “She’s family”, he mutters into the air, before closing the door and drawing the curtains closed.
“It’s great to see you Thor”, Sif laughs and returns the hug. “Loki told me you’ve been feeling unwell?” Thor asks, his expression softening and rubbing his hand soothingly over her arms. “Yes, but hopefully it gets better.” Her voice fills the room, her gaze landing onto her boyfriend. She turns back to face her long time friend, “Could I have a moment with him alone?” Thor looks between them, then nods and walks upstairs to the others. Loki quickly walks over and wraps her in a tight hug, before pulling back and staring directly in her eyes. “What’s wrong?, you shouldn’t be here, if you are not feeling well, I was about to come home soon”, his concerns take a backseat as she leans into him for support, before pressing her phone into his hands. “Take a look”, she replies softly, wrapping her arms around herself.
Whatever happens he has never been more beautiful than right there, she repeats in her mind. The fire cackling in the background and the soft yellow lights from the ceiling makes him seem almost angelical as he processes the picture on her phone.
His face goes from shock, disbelief, dismay to finally hopeful, but to her it seems like eternity, and the more she seems to take him in, the more wet her eyes get. His eyes finally catch hers, they have a shine to them almost, maybe it’s the lights, she thinks. “Is this real?” He asks with a tome so tender that she feels like breaking. She swallows and nods, “Hopefully this is a good thing?”, the words pour out of her. He laughs in disbelief and draws her into his embrace. “Of course, it is! That explains so much!” A laugh erupts from her throat and the next thing she knows is that she’s getting peppered with kisses that stops the wetness from falling further down her cheeks. “You are really pregnant? Oh man-” Loki takes a step back to sweep his hair out of his face. “We are going to start a family, Sif. You and Me.” He places a hand on her belly and presses their foreheads together. She feels like they both might burst into happiness.
Loki thinks he hears footsteps descending quickly from the stairs. Good, they’re going to get here in time for the big question.