The Abandoned House
Loki looked at Sylvie with sparks in his eyes, before answering Thor. “What’s the deal with the abandoned house? I’ve heard some whispers about it on the way here but…” he trailed off, leaving for Thor to answer his question.
“Ah, well…” Thor said as he sat across them. “There are rumors about it being haunted or something.”
“House wights live there!” Love enthusiastically exclaimed, earning a laugh from the older Asgardians. “That’s why Uncle Thor doesn’t want us to go,” she said with a pout. “He said the wights are being extra naughty tonight, but all they do is move furniture around and make noises to scare people.” Love gave her Uncle Thor a side-eye. “That doesn’t sound like a naughty thing to do.”
Sylvie giggled while Loki chuckled and said, “Has someone ever checked out the rumor about it being haunted?”
Thor shook his head. “Not that I know of. The house was already abandoned when we settled here. I’ve heard Midgardians occasionally go there to do some ‘spirit hunting’, which ends up with them screaming their lungs out because of how scary the house is,” he said in air quotes to emphasize the activity. “Oh, and other Midgardians from the neighboring town have mentioned this one malevolent vordr – you know, a warden spirit – that’s also alleged to be a vampire living there.”
“A vampire?” It was now Sylvie who spoke. “Now that’s something I haven’t heard in a while.”
“You know vampires?” Loki asked, curious if she really does know about the Midgardian creature.
Sylvie shrugged. “I’ve heard stories about them during one of my visits here back when…” she trailed off, not wanting to talk about any more of her past apocalypse-hopping days. “Anyway, they’re not real.”
Loki and Thor looked at her like she had just said something weird. “What? What’s with those faces?” she said defensively.
“You… you don’t believe in vampires?” Thor asked with a high-pitched voice. Sylvie silently shook her head in response.
“Is Aunt Sylvie right, Uncle Thor?” Love asked, now looking at her guardian with expectant eyes. “Does that mean we can go to the house if vampires don’t exist?”
Thor awkwardly laughed. “Heh. No can do, kiddo, they definitely exist. Besides,” he gave Love a stern look, “you promised me you’d stay here for an hour and help me give out candies to the other kids.”
“But that’s booooorrrriiiiing.” Love crossed her arms and pouted.
“Well, you can’t break a boring promise,” Thor said, beaming with confidence.
Sylvie watched Thor and Love argue with amusement, with the child insisting on going to the abandoned house to ‘kick some vampire ass’ as she put it. Meanwhile, Loki’s mischievous brain came up with an activity to make his and Sylvie’s night interesting. He was very certain that it was a risky idea – hell, it might even get him killed by the end of the night…
But that was a risk he was willing to take just to prove to Sylvie that vampires exist.
In order for his plan to work, he needed someone to play the role of the vampires. Loki immediately knew who he could call on such short notice to help him out with his plan. While Sylvie was still engulfed in Thor and Love’s argument (which was getting more and more ridiculous by this point), Loki waved his right hand and sent a duplicate of himself to explain his plan to his chosen accomplice.
“Look, Love,” Loki finally spoke, “your Uncle Thor is right. You should never break your word. Especially to someone who you love and trust.” He glanced at Sylvie, who raised an eyebrow at him. “Your Aunt Sylvie and I will go to the house, kick the vampire’s ass–”
“Loki...” Thor said with a warning tone.
“Sorry – butt then.” He said with an almost mocking tone. Thor stuck his tongue out in annoyance. “We will kick the vampire’s butt for you. Besides, your neck is so long,” Loki pointed at the child’s costume, “that the vampire might see and bite it. You don’t want that now, do you?”
Love bit her lip as she thought about Loki’s proposal, making the variants chuckle. “Okay fine,” she said. “I’ll stay with Uncle Thor and give candy. I like my giraffe costume, thank you very much.”
“Good girl.” Loki smiled, then turned to Sylvie with a sheepish grin. “Well, what do you say to partake in the Midgardian activity of hunting wights and vampires?” He stood up from Thor’s couch and offered his hand to Sylvie.
Sylvie let out a small chuckle before taking his hand. “Who am I to say no to the weird horse’s request?”
They waved their goodbyes to Thor and Love and exited their humble abode.
Loki and Sylvie walked past the bustling town full of running children in costumes to make their way toward its outskirts, where the abandoned house was. “Why the sudden interest in vampire hunting?” Sylvie asked as they approached the town’s forest border.
“Well, Thor gave us some things to do tonight and I thought why not choose something that seems very in line with the holiday.” Loki simply responded. He’s obviously lying since he wants to prove vampires exist… and maybe scare Sylvie along the way. “You know, boo and woo,” he wiggled his free hand in Sylvie’s face, which she playfully tried to bite.
Loki chuckled at her and retreated his hand, placing it on his side. “Plus, it’ll give us some time to be alone to talk about… you know.”
He felt Sylvie’s grip on him tighten as they silently made their way through the forest. Loki knew he was pushing it again, but didn’t care this time. Sure, he had his primary goal of proving the vampire in the abandoned house existed, but on top of that, he also wanted to talk about the past event that happened in the Citadel. He had tried to speak to her when they reunited, but Sylvie – being Sylvie – shrugged it off, promising him that they’d talk soon. That soon became days, weeks, then eventually months.
Loki was not even sure why Sylvie has always avoided the talk. It’s not like he’s going to break up with her. Hell, they’ve already confessed their feelings and had sex countless times since reuniting. She seemed pretty content with the way things are going, and so is Loki – but he needed to close that chapter of their lives if they really wanted to move on and build a future together.
“Loki,” Sylvie said exasperatedly, “I told you we’ll talk about that–”
“Soon, I know.” He finished the sentence for her. I’m making sure that soon is tonight, Loki thought as he squeezed her hand. “Sorry. I’m being an ass on this very scary night.”
“Please, you’re always an ass.” Sylvie rolled her eyes.
“And you like putting things up my a–”
“Ew, please not in front of my churro.”
Loki and Sylvie looked in the direction of the voice and found Valkyrie munching on some churros. Sylvie was genuinely surprised to see the King on the outskirts of town, but she was more surprised that her friend was eating churros. “Hey Va– I mean, your majesty.” She gently broke away from Loki’s grasp and did a half-assed curtsy. Valkyrie chuckled and waved her hand to dismiss Sylvie from her curtsy.
“Valkyrie,” Loki said as he bowed his head in respect.
“Sylvie. Lackey,” she responded. “What are you two mischievous scamps doing on the outskirts of town?”
“Oh you know, just doing some innocent nightly strolling with Lackey here.” Sylvie pointed at Loki. “Where’d you get the sweet treat?” Her eyes wandered to the very delicious churro that her friend was eating.
Valkyrie raised her half-eaten churro. “Oh, this? I had Miek bring some churros to my house. Want some?” She offered the half-eaten churro to Sylvie.
Sylvie was about to say yes when Loki loudly chuckled. “Maybe later, when we return from our Midgardian activity, right darling?” He quickly responded and gave Sylvie a look of ‘let’s go, time is ticking’, which Sylvie blatantly ignored. “And what’s the King of Asgard doing here anyway?”
Valkyrie took another bite of her food before answering Loki. “Leisurely night stroll like you two, I guess.” She shrugged. “I was getting bored of watching all the festivities so I decided to take a walk.”
“To the outskirts of town?” Sylvie said skeptically. “During Halloween, where wights apparently exist and scare the shit out of living beings?”
“Oh, there’s no wights here.” Valkyrie used her half-eaten churro to point around the area that they were currently in. “I had some Asgardian witch do a protection spell to repel wights from entering the town. But there…” She looked towards the horizon, and Sylvie followed her gaze to the abandoned house sitting on top of a small hill, “oh I’ve heard some nasty shit going on about a vordr turned vampire.”
“I told you vampires exist,” Loki chipped in. “Even Valkyrie believes in them.”
“Hold on,” Valkyrie placed a free hand on her waist, “you don’t believe in vampires” Sylvie shook her head. “But… surely you’ve seen some otherworldly beings during your trips to the apocalypse… are vampires scarce in apocalypses?” She asked in a hushed tone, which amused Sylvie.
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” she confessed. “I’ve seen giants, weird blob aliens, symbiotes… but no, not vampires. I’ve stayed in abandoned houses like that,” Sylvie pointed to the house without looking at it, “and no spirits, wights, blood-sucking weirdos, or whatever you want to call these blokes have ever appeared in front of me.”
Valkyrie eyed Sylvie suspiciously and took another bite of her churro. “You’re really weird Sylvie. That’s why I like you.”
“Thanks, I guess?” Sylvie responded with an uncertain tone. “Do you want to join us to do this vampire hunting thing?” she then offered, ignoring Loki’s glares. It was worth a shot at inviting another person on their night out – this would increase the chances of Loki dropping the topic about the Citadel if someone was also tagging along with them.
Sylvie had her reasons for avoiding the talk with Loki… okay well a reason. She was scared that once they finally hashed out what happened, Loki’s anger would overtake his feelings and leave her all alone again. Was she sure that Loki was angry with her? Not really; but she would rather not know how he felt about that day. She’d rather not open that Pandora’s box if she was asked.
Valkyrie looked at Sylvie, then back at Loki before answering her question. “No thanks. Looks like it’s a horse-only club and as you can see, I’m not a horse.”
“Well, what are you supposed to be?” Loki asked, still puzzled by the King’s choice of a costume. Valkyrie was wearing a tuxedo with a white bow tie, ornate, gold linings paired with a cape. However, it seemed to be missing a key element. “Some kind of Midgardian waiter with powers, maybe? Hence the… you know,” he wiggled his fingers in her direction, “cape?”
Valkyrie scoffed at Loki’s comments. “You know, for someone who claims to be well-endowed in the arts across the Nine Realms, you’re clearly missing the point of my awesome costume.” She grabbed her cape and flung it across, purposely covering the lower half of her face, and gave him a glare.
“I think she’s supposed to be the Phantom from the Phantom of the Opera but without the mask,” Sylvie said, upon further inspecting Valkyrie’s costume. “That or the guy from that one cartoon you showed me about transforming teen girl sailors a couple of weeks ago, but without the mask and the top hat.”
The realization hits Loki immediately like someone slapping him in the face. “You’re dressed as the Phantom?? Bloody hell why didn’t I think of that for us!” He pointed his finger back and forth between him and Sylvie. “You could’ve been Christine! Oh, the potential to create another sequel to a beautiful piece!” he exclaimed dramatically, making the two ladies roll their eyes synchronously. “Fuck, you in a dress and corset…” Loki trailed off, imagining Sylvie wearing a dress and a tight corset.
“I’d rather wear this,” Sylvie gestured to her unicorn costume, “than a bloody dress and a corset.”
“Yeah, corsets are something that should not have seen the light of day.” Valkyrie agreed. “Also, Sylvie…” She turned to her friend with a curious expression, “what’s that cartoon you were talking about with transforming sailors?”
“Oh, it’s about these teenage girls who–” Sylvie was about to start describing the show that Loki insisted on watching, but he suddenly cut her off.
“Anyway!” Loki awkwardly chuckled and clasped his hands, not wanting Valkyrie to know that they watched something childish. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us though? It could be fun hunting the vampire.” He grinned then threw a discreet wink in her direction.
Valkyrie lightly shook her head. “You guys go. Besides, I do need to be serious on my leisurely stroll. Thor has warned you about the trickster running around, right?” Loki and Sylvie nodded in response. “I’m looking for them because they stole my mask. Without it, people think I’m a Midgardian waiter with some superpowers.” She said with a pointed look at Loki.
Loki made a sad face and then said, “Suit yourself,” with a chuckle. Both of the ladies looked at him, unimpressed. “What? I thought that was good!”
“You’re a joke, Lackey.” Valkyrie dryly said. “Alright kiddos, have fun vampire hunting, and remember to keep your eyes peeled for any signs of debauchery that’s not caused by you two.” She turned her back on them and walked away in the direction of the woods.
“Bye Val! Spare me some churros while you’re at it!” Sylvie waved as they both watched Valkyrie disappear into the shadows. She let the silence linger for a minute before nudging Loki’s side with her elbow. “So, ready to be disappointed in your vampire fantasy?”
Loki chuckled before taking her hand. “Oh, we’ll see about that.”
“You know I just remembered,” Sylvie said as she wiped beads of sweat off her forehead, “you could’ve teleported us here to save time.” She had agreed to wear the costume for the holiday’s sake, but she hadn’t thought she would feel hot wearing it.
Loki was lightly fanning her to help her cool down. “I could, but that wouldn’t be fun now, would it?” He chuckled. That was true – he could’ve just teleported them to the top of the hill to save time, and he would’ve done so if he didn’t have this ‘let’s scare Sylvie and prove vampires exist’ plan. He needed to buy time for his accomplice to get to the house before them; hopefully, they’d already made their way to their spot, or else this would be a complete waste of his time.
“Shut up, Loki,” she said, huffing out another breath. “Now what? We just enter inside like it’s our own house?”
Loki looked at the door for a few minutes before walking to the right side of the house to peek at one of the windows. Upon reaching the window, he swatted the spider that was crawling by the window frame with his hand and wiped the dust off its glass to get a better view of the house’s interior.
The house wasn’t as big as he thought it would be; it was a fairly decent-sized house, with one floor covering the whole lot where he assumed the kitchen, living, and dining rooms were. He also saw a glimpse of the stairs leading up to the second floor of the house, where – judging from the two windows he’d seen earlier while making their way up the hill – the two bedrooms were.
He had asked his accomplice to ‘scare’ them in the master bedroom, which should have enough space for him to back away while they do their thing and scare Sylvie. “Alright,” he turned to go back to Sylvie’s side but was surprised to discover that the door had been opened and she was nowhere in sight. Loki sighed and followed her suit to enter the house.
He found Sylvie standing in the living room turning her head, appearing to look for something… or maybe someone. “Lost something?” he innocently asked.
“No,” she said, “I just had this weird feeling when I entered the house.”
“Weird… like a malevolent blood-sucking vordr is nearby?” Loki said smugly.
Sylvie ignored him and started to make her way to the left side of the house towards the kitchen when all of a sudden, the front door behind Loki closed with a loud bang, startling them in surprise. She shot Loki a dirty look before saying, “Ha. Ha. Very funny, Loki. You really think closing a door dramatically would scare me?”
“Wh– what?” Loki looked offended. “That wasn’t me!” She gave him a knowing look. “Sylvie, I swear on my mother’s funeral pyre that I didn’t close the door.”
“Mhm,” she dryly responded. Loki was about to say something back to her when a loud crash echoed from the kitchen. Sylvie looked suspiciously at Loki, then at his hands to see if he was using his seidr. “Okay, now I believe that wasn’t you.”
“You think?!” Loki said bitterly. “I’m telling you, Sylvie, it’s the house wights and that vampire that may or may not be living upstairs,” he said rather loudly, hoping that his accomplice had heard it and was set up for the big scare later. Loki then sighed and decided to deal with the fact that they might now be dealing with a possible intruder…
Or wights and a vampire do live in this desolate house.
“Stay here while I –” Loki started as he silently made his way toward the kitchen.
“Oh, you’re not going anywhere.” Sylvie hissed from her position, making Loki stop in his tracks. “We’re doing this together, you boob.”
Loki couldn’t help but smile at Sylvie’s comment. He took in this tender moment between them and savored it while he still could before he decided to finally open the can of worms they’d both been avoiding for so long.
“Together,” he said with pride.
Loki and Sylvie’s heads popped in the corner of the kitchen’s arch, looking like little kids searching for candy. “You see anything?” Sylvie asked, her eyes going back and forth from one corner of the room to another.
“Nope,” Loki answered and stepped inside the room, Sylvie following his suit. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary from the empty kitchen – if ordinary meant an open fridge, dishes haphazardly stacked together in the sink, and open drawers and cabinets. “I told you maybe it was one of the house wights welcoming us,” he insisted, playfully wiggling his fingers in her direction. “Or the vampire sitting upstairs.”
Sylvie sighed and kicked the sink cabinet to a close. “Okay, I’ll bite,” she said as she looked back at Loki. “Nothing’s here. Where to now, Mr. Vampire Hunter?”
This was Loki’s chance to lure Sylvie upstairs. “Upstairs, my lady,” he said, stepping to the side to let her exit the room first. “Don’t worry, I will protect you with–”
Loki got interrupted again, but this time the crashing sound came from the dining room, which was on the other side of the house. He huffed out in irritation, then his eyes went to Sylvie’s and he watched her pop the hoodie off her head and unzip the costume just up to her chest, slightly exposing her breasts. His eyes grew wide at the sight.
“SYLVIE WHAT IN THE NINE REALMS ARE YOU–”
He abruptly stopped his tirade as Sylvie pulled a stick from her sports bra. Loki’s mouth hung open in shock, still watching her as she zipped the front back up, but left the hoodie hanging by her shoulders, exposing her beautiful face.
Sylvie gave the stick she was holding a weird look before turning her attention back to Loki. “What?” she asked nonchalantly.
“Did you– did you just pull a wand from your breasts?”
Sylvie nodded. “Yeah. Nicked this from a kid earlier who’s dressed like that English wizard Harry Pothead.” She swished the wand like it was her small sword. “I figured we’d need a sharp weapon after hearing Thor’s warning about the trickster…” Sylvie waved the wand she was holding at Loki’s face to prove her point.
Loki was too dumbfounded to even correct her mistake. It took him a minute to gather his thoughts and to say something that made sense. “You know what,” he raised his hands in defeat, “I’m not even going to question this.”
“Good,” Sylvie said, “guess you’ve finally learned how to trust me then,” she said almost too casually for Loki’s ears.
“I– I’m sorry, what?”
Sylvie realized what she had just said and cursed under her breath. Feeling embarrassed about what happened, she turned away from him and quickly exited the room.
Loki stood in the kitchen, confused about what just happened.
“Sylvie, wait!”
Loki rushed from the kitchen and ran after Sylvie. This was not how he imagined their conversation about the Citadel would start. He was supposed to start the fight, not her. Was Sylvie already expecting him to have the talk after he hinted about it earlier? Probably. She’s brilliant, Loki… of course, she would expect you to finally corner her into talking about the Citadel. He scolded himself as he entered the dining room.
He was expecting Sylvie to be in the room but to his surprise, he found the place empty – except for a trail of what appeared to be candy wrappers that started from the windowsill. “Huh.” Loki sat on his heels and picked the one nearest to him, examining it carefully. It looked to be of this timeline and was just freshly opened by someone. Candies in an abandoned house?
Then, another loud crash emitted from upstairs, followed by Sylvie’s agitated voice. “What the fuck?”
Loki immediately dropped the candy wrapper and ran upstairs. “Sylvie?” he shouted, his heart racing from the adrenaline and fear he was experiencing right now. “Where are you?”
“Loki?”
His neck snapped to his right upon hearing her muffled voice behind a closed door. Loki quickly made his way toward it, grabbed and turned the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge. “Why won’t this thing turn?!” he said through gritted teeth, rattling the doorknob with all of his strength.
“Oh come on, Loki,” Sylvie said with much sarcasm from the other side of the door, “stop clowning around and use your magic to open the door!”
Loki sighed in annoyance while letting his seidr flow to his palms. In one quick motion, he forced the door open, making Sylvie lightly jump in surprise. Then, he quickly entered the room and grabbed her shoulders, his hands shaking a little bit. “You okay? Did anyone hurt you?” he asked as he looked at her for any visible injuries.
“I’m fine,” Sylvie answered him as she lightly shrugged his hands off her shoulders. “Let’s just get out of this damn ro–” She automatically stopped speaking when another loud bang echoed inside the room they were currently in. Her eyes looked at the source of the sound and she huffed out a growl in frustration.
Loki followed her gaze and sure enough, he also discovered that the door had been closed again. “Does… does that not open from here?” He already knew the answer, yet he still asked.
“No,” Sylvie said, “and before you ask, yes I’ve tried it with my magic earlier and it wouldn’t budge.”
“So it only opens in one way?”
“Looks like it.”
Loki exhaled then proceeded to pace around the room, looking for their possible way out. The window was the obvious choice – they could easily break it and jump down without so much as a scratch. So what was stopping him from breaking the window? One, various Midgardian furnitures were blocking it from being opened; and two, the room they were locked in was so small that if he decided to blast the blocked window open with his magic, he was pretty sure that the Asgardians and Midgardians wouldn’t be too happy when they heard about the big, gaping hole he made in their beloved abandoned house.
“Loki, will you stop pacing?” Sylvie’s voice pulled him away from his thoughts. “You’re seriously making me dizzy.”
He turned and found her sitting down on the floor, her back to the locked door with an annoyed expression. “Don’t watch me walk then,” he responded with a hint of sarcasm. If Loki was being honest, thinking about escaping the room and Sylvie’s remarks earlier were making him very frustrated.
“Well, what am I supposed to look at in this tiny room?”
“Oh, I don’t know – someone you probably trust?” he blurted out without even thinking.
Sylvie’s expression changed from annoyed to angry in an instant. “Are we really about to have the–”
“Yes, Sylvie!” Loki said exasperatedly, “I want to talk about it because I want to close that chapter of our lives!” He flipped his horse hood off and ran his fingers through his hair, the anxiousness in his body overtaking him. “We’re never going to move forward if we don’t talk about it. Don’t you have questions about that day that you desperately want the answers to?”
“Like what?” Sylvie raised an eyebrow and dared Loki to continue. “What question could you possibly have in mind?” she said through gritted teeth.
“Like… I don’t know – uh… why you had to push me away when you could’ve let me stay by your side!?” he shouted in frustration. “Because in that moment, Sylvie…” Loki continued, now breathing heavily, “in that very moment after our kiss, I realized that it was never my place to stop you from fulfilling your life’s mission. I realized you needed my support more than my opinion, and I would’ve given it to you, had you let me stay.
“Was I angry that you pushed me away? No,” he said softly, “I could never be angry at you. Confused, yes – but angry? No… never.”
“Loki…” Sylvie started, “look, I wasn’t thinking straight that day. I just thought that if you stayed there–”
“I would’ve stopped you.” He finished the sentence for her. Loki sighed and walked towards where Sylvie was seated, then he proceeded to sit across from her and took both her hands, rubbing lazy circles at them with his thumbs. “But, like what I just confessed, I wouldn’t. I would’ve just held you, like this…” he dropped her hands to her knees and scooted forward, wrapping his long arms over her shoulders, “and I would’ve stayed with you, there in the Citadel, telling you that everything’s going to be okay.”
Loki felt Sylvie lean her head against his chest. He sighed in contentment as both of them stayed silent, listening to each other’s breaths. “I’m sorry.” Sylvie broke the silence with her muffled voice. “I needed you to be safe.”
“Sylvie, you know I don’t need–”
“I know.” She cut him off, her face still buried in his chest. “I know.” Sylvie then wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close to her. “I knew I would regret sending you away, but god knows what else would I have done to you if I didn’t. I probably would’ve…” She stopped and sniffled, knowing very well what words would come out next. “But I want you to know that I did it because I want you to be safe, that’s all.”
“Hey,” Loki took his hands off her shoulders and placed them on the sides of her face, tilting her head up so he could look into her eyes as he said, “It’s okay. I get it now – I really do. I told you, your kiss gave me an epiphany.” He chuckled, trying to make light of the situation. “If you still think I’m mad because of what happened, I’m not.
“I love you, Sylvie, and thank you for always keeping me safe,” Loki whispered softly, only for Sylvie’s ears to hear. “Now it’s my turn to keep you safe, alright?”
Sylvie silently moved forward and closed the gap between them with a kiss. Her hands moved from his waist to the nape of his neck, with one hand making its way to his hair. Loki reciprocated the kiss eagerly, breathing in her scent and wiping away the tears that had formed on the side of her eyes. The kiss was slow, tender, and for Loki – signified the closure he was looking for.
They kept kissing for what felt like forever until Loki decided to break it off so both of them could catch their breaths. He chuckled when he heard Sylvie’s small whine once they broke free from the kiss. “Sorry, but I need you to breathe, my darling.”
“Nope. I don’t need it,” she said, heavily panting and eyes glued to his lips. Loki laughed again and reached forward to wipe the sweat that had formed on her forehead. Sylvie immediately took his hand and pulled him down on top of her. “You don’t need to breathe either.” She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, low and enticing.
Hearing Sylvie’s low voice was enough for Loki to resume kissing her – harder and with more passion this time. He was moving in rhythm with her, their bodies becoming one. Loki placed one of his hands up on the door, using it as a support to lessen the pressure of his weight on Sylvie’s. Sylvie’s arms snaked around his neck, moaning softly as Loki lightly bit her lips. Then, he slowly made his way down, peppering her with kisses starting from the tip of her nose, her jaws, and finally stopping at her neck.
“Are we really about to do it in an abandoned house?” he teased, breathing heavily on Sylvie’s neck.
“Loki, I swear to the gods if you keep stopping I’m going to fucking–” She snarled at him and wrapped her legs around his waist, pushing it down onto hers.
Loki laughed and tilted his head up to interrupt her with a kiss. He felt her smile into it and he couldn’t help but do the same. Then, as he was about to continue downward, an audible gasp came from the other side of the door; followed by the sound of something running away. They both turned to each other with confused looks. When Loki was about to open his mouth to ask the question both burning in their heads, he felt someone trying to push the door open. He quickly wrapped his arms around Sylvie and moved them out of the way just in time for the door to be violently kicked open.
They coughed as the dust from the room flew around because of the door’s impact. Loki opened his eyes and was surprised that Sylvie was already up and alert, holding the wand again as her weapon. “Sylvie?” he said as he slowly stood up and conjured daggers of his own. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she answered, then turned around to face him. “You?”
Loki nodded. “What was that?” he said as a cough escaped from his lips.
“No idea. But hey, it opened the door for us so…” Sylvie threw the wand she was holding to the floor and offered her hand out to Loki, “want to get out of here?”
Loki placed his daggers back into his pocket dimension and gingerly took Sylvie’s hand, locking it with his.
“Let’s go, my love.”
“Say,” Sylvie said as she quickly popped her hood back up, then turned to Loki to help him fix the hood of his costume, “did you really just want to go to this stupid house to talk about feelings?”
“Er,” Loki awkwardly placed his hand on the nape of his neck and avoided Sylvie’s look, “not exactly. See, I wanted to prove to you that the vampire Thor mentioned is real.”
Sylvie’s hand hovered around his neck as she raised an eyebrow at him. Loki took this as a sign to continue. “So, I sent an illusion to Valkyrie and asked her to play the part of the vampire.”
“So that’s why she was here earlier.” Sylvie said.
Loki nodded at her. “I needed her nearby so I could conjure her a costume. She was supposed to scare us – you – once we reached the master bedroom of the house. We had a signal too – she was supposed to produce loud footsteps from upstairs to let me know that she was there.”
“But we never heard any footsteps,” Sylvie’s eyebrows furrowed and her hands slid to his chest, “we only heard loud crashes – like someone was also trying to leave the house.”
“True.” Loki said. “I don’t know… maybe she changed her mind and decided to mess with us instead of helping me.”
Sylvie giggled. “Well, that’s what you get for trying to scare me, dumbass.”
“I’ll have to talk to Valkyrie when I see her again tonight,” Loki said while taking Sylvie’s hands off his chest and intertwining it with his.
“Loki?”
“Hm?”
Sylvie stood on her toes and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. “I love you.” Loki smiled and pulled her into a tight embrace.
They stayed still, basking in their blissful embrace until Loki decided to speak. “Well, that was fun–”
“Fun?” Sylvie leaned back and looked at him, baffled by his definition of fun.
“Okay… interesting…?” he tentatively said, looking for approval from Sylvie, who nodded, “Interesting activity.” Loki freed her from his embrace. “We both learned that there’s nothing in that abandoned house, New Asgard may not have a new King tomorrow – well, that actually depends if I’m successful in killing Valkyrie because she never showed up… ow!” He pouted as he used his other free hand to massage the arm that Sylvie punched.
“No killing unless it’s a Kang variant, remember?” she said with a stern look.
Loki did an exaggerated frown. “Fine,” he offered his hand out to Sylvie, and she gladly took it without hesitation. “But you know the best thing I’ve learned today?”
“What?”
He squeezed her hand and smiled. “That you love meeeee,” he teased childishly in a sing-songy tone.
Sylvie rolled her eyes. “Idiot.”
“Yes, but I’m your idiot.” Loki raised their locked hands and planted a soft kiss on hers. “Come on, let’s head back to where Thor and Love are and decide on our next nightly activity.”
