THAT YELLOW-ORANGE GLOW (?)
OLIVIA SIGHS AS SHE FINISHES WRAPPING HER UPPER ARM. She sweeps the used alcohol swabs off the counter and into the trash. As she reaches for the box to clean the cut on her calf, a knock sounds on her door.
Olivia’s head swerves with alarm, and her entire body bristles as she automatically scans the apartment for anything incriminating.
Mask on the table, bloody swabs in the trash, first aid kit on the counter, exposed bandages on her person. Luckily, she cleaned the bloody rags already.
“Liv?” Bruce calls from outside her apartment door. She jumps into action immediately, putting everything away like her life depends on it.
“One second!” she calls, keeping her voice down a touch so he can’t tell she’s in the kitchen. She thanks her past self silently for remembering to lock the door.
Opening up the fridge, she grabs some expired snacks and tosses them in the trash to hide the swabs. Then, she swerves over to the table and swipes her mask off the table.
“…you okay in there?” Bruce prompts from the door, sounding slightly concerned. In the hallway, Olivia rams the thermostat down.
“I’m fine!” She exclaims back as she steps into her room, jamming the mask under the mattress. “I’m just getting dressed, give me two seconds!” She opens her closet snd frantically grabs the first turtleneck she sees, yanking it on and doing a quick check to make sure the bandages on her neck aren’t visible.
Then, she takes a deep breath and puts on her calm face, heading into the living room and swinging open the door to let Bruce in.
“Hey,” he greets, smiling; he holds up a box of chocolates. “Brought you some candy.” She grins as if she wasn’t just sprinting around her apartment trying to hide evidence, and steps aside to let him in.
“Sweet,” she remarks, “post-Valentine’s sale candy.” He shivers as he enters the apartment, frowning.
“No wonder you’re wearing a turtleneck,” he muses, “it’s freezing in here.” Olivia nods, tugging her turtleneck up and her sleeves down a little, self-consciously.
“Yeah,” she agrees, “the thermostat and I are having a fight right now; but anyways, what kind of candy did you get?” He smiles, a touch proud of himself.
“So, I know Lindor is your favorite—“
***
“What the hell happened to you?” Loki frets, seeing his soulmate laying on her side of the room’s couch, her neck, calf, and upper arm wrapped in bandages.
“They called me again,” she sighs, exhausted. “This time the job was taking out a mole.” She rolls her head to the side to deadpan at him. “Obviously, he knew I was coming.”
“Here,” he offers, moving to sit at the end of the couch; she moves her feet to make room the moment he gets close. “Let me see what I can do.” She sits up obediently, and he goes first for her upper arm, laying his hand over her injury. A green glow comes from the space where his hand connects to her arm.
“Thanks,” she mutters. “I think I kind of pissed the one on my calf off, running around trying to hide everything from Bruce.” Loki frowns.
“What do you want to do tonight?” he prompts suddenly, moving his hands down to the bandage on her calf. She sighs deeply, thinking about it.
“I think I just wanna…” she trails off, looking for words. “Let’s go to Ohio.” He hums, pulling his hands away from her calf. He hesitates before putting his hands around her neck, knowing that might not be taken well.
“May I?” he questions first instead, gesturing to her neck. She tilts her head back so he can reach it, which he takes as invitation enough. Still, he can feel her eyes focused on him, watching.
“You’re getting pretty good at this,” she muses softly. He hesitantly reaches over to lightly brush one hand against the side of her neck, making a face.
“Not… really,” he denies quietly, feeling like he might startle her if he breathes too much. “I’m truly not a healer. The most I can do is take a little of the pain away.”
“Well it feels like you’re doing a lot,” she whispers, feeling like she might disturb his work if she speaks too loud. He glances up at her, and then hastily retracts his hands.
“There,” he decides. “That’s all I can do for it like this.” She nods, reaching up to tap her neck. Seeing as how this is a dream, it doesn’t hurt.
“Thanks,” she smiles, with a little less feeling than she probably intended. He nods, standing.
“Well,” he declares. “Are we going to Ohio or not?” She grins, taking his hand to pull herself up to her feet.
“I thought you’d never ask,” she replies, clapping her hands together.
***
The memory of stars high above is shining down at Olivia and Loki, watching them on the grassy hill. In the distance— not too far away but not very close either— Loki can see Olivia’s childhood home. The lights are all off except for the back porch light.
Olivia, herself, claps her cupped hands together and then turns to Loki with a proud smile.
“I caught one,” she declares. “Check it out.” She opens her hands just slightly enough for him to peer in and see the firefly within.
“Incredible,” he states flatly. “A bug. Truly, an unprecedented discovery.” Olivia laughs.
“Yeah, okay, but it’s a pretty bug,” she reminds him. “It glows and shit.” She opens up her hands, releasing the firefly into the air once more.
“I don’t know why you bother to catch it if you’re only going to release it again,” he points out. She shrugs, watching the bug she just released fly away.
“For fun,” she summarizes, offering him a grin. “Come on, you should try. For me?” Loki raises his eyebrows, thoroughly unimpressed.
“What is this, some sort of Midgardian courting ritual? You capture glowing bugs to win a lady’s affections?” he snorts, imagining the absurd sight. Actually, the idea of a dozen mortal men vying for Olivia’s heart is kind of obnoxious— even if they used silly methods like catching bugs.
“…if I say yes, will you come catch fireflies with me?” she inquires, raising her eyebrows as if to consider it. He laughs, a little derisively, but begrudgingly looks around for a good-sized firefly.
If it means that much to her, he might as well.
His eyes land on one glowing particularly brightly, and he reaches up to catch it easily while Olivia is distracted staring at one in the grass. It buzzes strangely against his hands, but it doesn’t bother him too much.
“Here,” he prompts, instantly capturing her attention. He shows her his catch, letting it fly into the air in front of her. She watches it go with a slightly awed expression. “Satisfied?”
She nods, turning to smile at him. He glances down at the bandages on her neck, feeling a little bad for some reason he can’t quite place.
“Very,” she confirms. “Now, I do believe I promised you some ‘affections’, or something like that.” Before he can even laugh at her for how weirdly she said that, she leans up slightly to press a kiss to his cheek.
He blinks at her, taken a little off-guard. Her lips quirk up into a slightly mischievous smile.
“Satisfied?” she parrots back at him. He grins— oh, two can play at that game.
“Not nearly,” he decides, reaching over to rest his hand on her shoulder and swooping down.
He idles just a few centimeters from her lips, but swerves at the last second to give her a chaste peck on the cheek.
“Now I’m satisfied,” he smirks, pulling fully away from her. She stares at him for a second, looking slightly affronted, and then groans.
“You fucking tease,” she complains, laughing all the while. His smirk widens a little in satisfaction, but he doesn’t comment on her expression.
It’s the biggest grin he’s ever seen her wear.