Chapter Three
London, England 2021
It was still dark as Loki made his way through the dreary streets of London to open the gallery. The bad weather was not holding off as it got later into the year. He parked his car and made his way through the rain to the front doors. As he approaches he spots a figure hooded over trying to take cover from the rain just outside the gallery
"Sylvie?" He called spotting the blonde locks pocking out from under the coat.
Stepping out onto the pavement Sylvie smiled up at Loki, not seeming to care that she was drenched through the rain.
"What are you—" Loki trailed off looking at his watch which read just before 7am. "How long have you been stood here waiting?"
"Uh…not long." She just shrugs. Loki just raises his brows at her as he starts to fumble with the lock on the shutters to open and get out of this rain. "About 45 minutes?" She shrugs again.
Loki looks to her watch on her wrist. "Does that even work?" He points to it and she just nods, helping pull the shutter to the top as Loki opens the main gallery doors.
"And before you ask, I can read the time," she tells him sharply, following him inside. The alarm starts to beep loudly before Loki punches the code in. Sylvie pretends she didn’t see the code, taking her eyes elsewhere around the gallery.
"How come you’re here so early?" Loki asks her, taking his soaked coat off and holds his hand out, helping Sylvie peel hers off.
"I have a closing shift at the cafe, thought I’d try and get some hours in before my shift."
They make their way to the studio and his office, Loki silently thanking the person who placed his office opposite the studio. He was happy to see her, even if she looked like she just came out of the shower and hadn’t seemed to have her morning tea yet.
"Tea? Coffee? It’ll help you warm up."
"Tea would be great, thanks," she simply smiles, placing her bag on the table.
"Here," Loki passes her a cup, quickly placing it onto the table as she pulled more books out of her bag.
She had seemingly slipped into her own world very quickly, trying to focus on her art. Loki smiles watching as she does so seemingly so calm and relaxed, pulling books and drawing pads from her bag all scattered around her on the table.
"Have you—"
"Please don’t ask me what it is," Sylvie cuts him off, "I know I’ve been here two weeks and haven’t figured it out yet," she sighs
"Sylvie, don’t stress. You have the time, and by the looks of it you have a good start." Loki shuffles the pages on the table that showed the drawings simple eyes, slowly getting more detailed, some blurry and some scattered over the page, some dominating it for itself. The drawings quickly turned from eyes to flowers, and then a single drawing of a unfinished hand, holding it up closer so he could get a better look.
"I’m not really sure what they are, I’ve been waking up with faint ideas but their blurry sometime so I just draw."
"Your dreams?" Lok questions, and Sylvie nodded, looking through the sketches herself.
"Well, they’re really good, whatever they become," he tells her before placing the sketch back down, the back of his brain starting to go fuzzy. Trying to shake it off, he excuses himself. "I have to go finish opening up."
Sylvie picks the drawing up Loki was looking so closely at, seeing it was the hand, the hand that she had woken up and sketched this morning. Not understanding why Loki’s demeanor had suddenly changed, she glanced up and watches him quickly shuffle out of the studio, unlocking his office and disappearing out of her sight.
Loki didn’t know what it was, his own dream slowly running through his head still mostly fuzzy. He shakes his head again, the pain of his mind racing now getting to him. It was like he was trying to untangle something, something he didn’t know was there, something he didn’t know how to get rid of.
Sylvie though, the blurry dreams became an anchor for her art. The only thing she found inspiration in, even in the confusion she pushed all those feelings away and onto paper, trying her hardest to only focus on what was important.
Trying to ignore the pull that was getting stronger.
•••
As the hours ticked by, more artists were coming in and out of the studio. Sylvie was exchanging a few hellos when her head wasn’t buried into her work.
Loki continued to work in his office, occasionally stepping out to help with a customer. He found his eyes couldn’t help but lift from his computer to find Sylvie, a relaxed feeling washing over him as he catches her, the feeling of relief knowing she was there.
"Shit," Sylvie mutters, quickly gathering her books, shoving them into her bag with no sense of organization. Note pads spilled out waiting for one jolt to fall. She started her way to the door before hearing her name being called from behind her. She stopped and turned to see Loki making his way out of his office.
This was it, Loki thought, mulling over in his head for the last hour he couldn’t ignore the pull he had to her. It was time to shoot his shot. "I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner sometime?" He asks her coming out less confident than he wanted.
"You’re asking me on a date? Coffee twat is asking me out" Sylvie smiled up at him.
"I really thought we moved past that nickname."
Sylvie just shrugs. "Huh." Sylvie blinked, caught off guard by the seriousness of the question. "I—look, between my job and the showcase, I barely have time for even sleep right now."
"Of course. Forget I even asked." Loki started to back away, feeling her rejection a little more than he should.
"Loki. I’m not saying no, it’s just that I really have no time." She glances down to her watch. Wanda was going to kill her. "I have to go, I’m running late for work. I’ll talk to you when I come in next."
"I have to work late tonight. If you feel you need more time in the studio you can come in after your shift, just—" Loki pulls out his phone, handing it to her. "Text me when you’re outside so I can come unlock the doors."
Sylvie nodded quickly, typing her phone number in before handing it back to Loki, who shoots a quick text to her so she now has his too. "Well I’ll see you later maybe," she smiles before running out the door.
•••
"I’m sorry, Wanda!" Sylvie nearly yells as she runs into the cafe 30 minutes late. She was never late anywhere but lately she can’t seem to get it right. It was like time was somehow running faster for her.
"It’s okay," Wanda smiled leaning back against the counter, a steaming cup of coffee pressed to her lips. "Your shift doesn’t actually start for another 30 minutes," she tells her, leaving Sylvie slightly dumbfounded.
Pulling off her wet coat and putting her bag behind the counter she looks to Wanda confused, "I triple checked my schedule. My shift starts at 12."
"Yeah but it actually starts at 1," she sips her coffee, "I had a feeling you’d be late so I thought I’d try something. You know, being the boss and everything."
"Well thank you, I guess. But also no, I ran here in the rain."
"Why didn’t you just get a cab? Or the tube?"
"Traffic is horrific out there today, and I didn’t feel like being a sardine in a can squished next to strangers." Sylvie shudders at the thought.
"Go dry yourself off and then I can send Kate home," Wanda tells her, pointing her towards the brown haired girl currently serving customers.
Sylvie nods making her way to the back room, pulling the wet clothes off and puts a clean set on. She grabs her apron and makes her way back out to the cafe floor.
It was a mostly quiet day, in between customers she’d pull her small pad from apron and sketch whatever she could think of to pass the time. Her mind kept drifting back to Loki’s words every now and then. She was leaning down over the counter, pen in hand as her mind raced when a voice from behind the till brings her from her thoughts.
"Hi," a tall blonde haired man says. He looked familiar to her but she couldn’t quiet place him yet.
"Hi, sorry was in my own world. What can I get for you?" Sylvie gives him her best costumer smile.
"Just a large latte please." Sylvie starts to ring him up as his coffee is being made when where she knows him from clicks.
"You’re one of the artists from the showcase at the Frigga Odinson Memorial Gallery."
"Ah yes, I knew I recognized you." He smiles reaching his hand forward, "Vision."
"Sylvie," she smiles, shaking his hand. She finish making his coffee and passed it to him.
"It was lovely to officially meet you, Sylvie. I’ll see you at the gallery some time." He smiles as he walks out.
"Bye," she calls after him.
"Who was that?" Wanda says from behind her, making her jump.
"What’s with the creeping, Wands?"
"Sorry, sorry," she laughs before moving beside Sylvie, "so who was that? He’s cute."
"That’s Vision, he’s one of the artist at the showcase."
"Vision, of course. That’s such an artist name." they both laugh, carrying on for the rest of the day.
•••
Across town, Loki’s head was buried in work trying to keep his mind off what Sylvie said. Was she truly busy or was she trying to politely turn him down?
He knew she had been running around London like a headless chicken the last two weeks. He had offered her rides home, both having been staying late at the gallery but she had always politely declined.
"Ahh, brother, I heard you got turned down today!" Thor said walking into Loki’s office, definitely not using his inside voice. "That’s not like you, getting turned down by someone," he huffs back into a chair.
"How did you even know this?" Loki asks him confused.
"Jane told me." Of course she did. Jane had been their receptionist for over three years now and was always pinning over Thor and making sure anyone breathing coming through those front doors weren’t after him, but Thor didn’t seem to mind the attention yet he never asked her out. It was all kinds of confusing for Loki.
"That makes more sense," Loki nods.
"You really asked Sylvie out? You like her?"
"I do," Loki sighs, really unsure of his own feelings but he knew something was there for her.
"I can tell, I haven’t seen that look on your face for a long time," Thor smiles at his brother. "Maybe don’t knock her to the ground again and next time she'll say yes," Thor laughs as he gets up and walks out of his office.
Loki tries to focus on organizing the big showcase that came with a party that needed to be perfect. He was focused. Well as focused as he could get. His phone buzzes next to him and he smiles when he sees her name pop up.
Sylvie: I’ll be there at half six is that okay?
He could swear he felt something flutter in his stomach before quickly shooting her a text that he would be here. He slowly watched the clock tick by, waiting for half six to roll around.
•••
The rain had eased off finally by the time the end of Sylvie’s shift rolled around as she once again packed up and headed to the gallery. She texts Loki, letting him know that she was nearly there. He was already waiting outside when she got there.
"Hey, thank you for letting me do this."
"It’s not a problem, I’m here anyway so it doesn’t make a difference," Loki shoots her a soft smile before locking the front door behind them.
Like a repeat of this morning they both go their separate ways into the studio and his office.
As Loki sat at his desk he didn’t work this time, his eyes to fixated on what Sylvie was doing. The way her eyes focused on the pages in front of her, like you could see her brain thinking through them. She was beautiful and Loki couldn’t pull himself away. It was like his soul knew something that he didn’t and he wanted to know everything.
Being ballsy, he thought he’d try something.
In the studio, Sylvie sat the pencil she held twirling through her fingers down as she tried to find more than just blurry things. She focused more on the hand she had started that morning and the details that were still in her memory.
Time passes around Sylvie as she gets lost in her art. Loki’s knock on the door brings her back to earth again.
"In the risk of getting shot down again, I thought I’d shoot my shot one more time in the hopes of you saying no earlier was because you’re too busy and couldn’t, so I brought food here instead," he smiles to Sylvie holding up the take away bag.
"I’d like that," Sylvie smiles, moving her bag from the seat next to her. Loki takes that as his opportunity and sits next to her.
"I hope Chinese is okay? I got a little of nearly everything just in case."
"Chinese is perfect, thank you." She can’t wipe the smile from her face, "but I do have to keep working as we eat if you’re okay with tha.t"
"That’s perfectly fine with me," he smiles to her, handing her containers of food. They spread over the table in front of them.
They sit and eat, while Sylvie works more, Loki happily watches her in her element. He could watch this all day. Somewhere in the hour, the pages had been scattered more and more. Sylvie now sat on the table her knees crossed under her as she eats the noodles while Loki more relaxed in his own chair.
"So, why a gallery?" Sylvie asks him.
"Why did I open one?" Loki checks, "well my mother would use to take Thor and myself to galleries all the time as kids. And to shows, museums, she really loved those things. Thor and I grew to love them too and after she died we wanted to do something in her honor. So we opened this place."
"I’m sure she would have loved the gallery," Sylvie offers him a smile. He’s being so open with her, he wasn’t normally like this.
"What about you any family?"
"Just Wanda, she’s like my annoying sister," Sylvie laughs, “I was adopted when I was four out of Leeds. My parents died when I was 15 in a car accident and then I met Wanda two years later."
"I’m sorry about your parents," he offers her.
"It’s okay. They were great parents, and great people,” she smiles remembering them. "I’m sorry about your mum." They smile at each other, the understanding of shared grief they knew how the other felt. "Well this just got really depressing," Sylvie laughs it off. "Thank you for this Loki, I had a really good time." she tells him.
“Me too. Maybe I can take you on an actual date if you find some time in that crazy schedule of yours."
"Maybe we could keeping doing this for now, even though I didn’t get much work done,” she smiles as they held each other’s gaze a moment too long some might say, but they can’t look away from each other. The invisible string pulling on them getting stronger.
"I should start heading out, it’s getting late."
"You haven’t had your fortune cookie yet."
Sylvie gasps. "How could I forget such a vital thing?" She laughs, taking it from him and opens it up. "You share a special bond that only grows stronger with time," she reads hers out loud, "of course mine mentions time." She throws the paper over her shoulder and picks up another one, handing it to him. "Your turn."
He slowly opens his up, "in a crowded room, there are eyes always searching for you," he reads his. "Mines a little creepy." They both laugh at the silliness of the fortune cookies.
After they finished their food, he helped her clean up the studio before she turned off the lights. Loki’s stops her before she can leave. "I want you to have this." Loki hands her a small brown envelop. She looks to him with confusion written all over her face. She opens it and tips it into her hand, a key and piece of paper falling out.
"I wanted you to have a key to the gallery and the code to the alarm system, if you ever needed the space and time in the studio. Even if I’m not here you can now," Loki explains to her.
"You really trust me enough with this?" Sylvie still looks unsure. Maybe it was a trap. Her mind was working a million miles an hour.
"I do."
"Why?"
Loki shrugs, placing her hand over hers and closes it around the key. "I just do. I know I can trust you."
They slowly make their way outside. "Can I offer you a ride home this time?" He asks her in the slight chance she'll say yes this time. He didn’t like the thought of her walking home alone in London at night, it screamed unsafe.
Loki nearly chokes on air when she nods agreeing to it.
He holds outs his hand for her to take, intertwining their fingers he guides her to his car parked down the street. He opens the car door for her, raised to be the gentleman in every situation. She thanks him, climbing in before he joins her, intertwining their fingers again before getting her address and driving her home.
The streets weren’t as busy this late at night, making it a short drive which deep down they both hated. They felt safe in each other’s company. Sylvie had opened up about her adopted parents, something she rarely does to anyone other than Wanda. She felt the connection to him, the pull, the desire to be held by him, to be loved by him. But it all felt like too much and she wanted to slow it down but it seemed like every single part of her disagreed. They all wanted to betray her and to dive into his arms and she wanted to pull back and crawl away to her safe spot. It was confusing, fast, and irrational but she wanted it all anyway deep down somewhere she did even if she wasn’t ready to admit any of it.
He slowly peeled his hand from hers as they pull up to her building.
"I really had a nice evening, thank you again, Loki." Sylvie smiled at him and the smile he gives her back make her stomach start doing summersaults.
Like on instinct, their bodies moved closer to each other. Loki slowly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as they got even closer, the feeling of each other’s breaths on their faces.
"May I?" Loki asked in a whisper, his eyes flickering down to her lips. She hadn’t fully nodded before he crashed his lips into hers. It was slow and soft as she kissed him back. He never wanted to let go as his hand snuck around the back of her neck pulling her in closer.
They both pulled away, trying to catch their breaths.
"I really should get going," Sylvie tells him, still beathing heavier. “Goodnight Loki," Sylvie smiles opening the car door.
"Goodnight Sylvie," he tells her as she climbs out. She goes into her apartment, pressing her back against the door, trying to catch her breath once again.
That was more than just a kiss.