THE GREEN GLIMMER OF MISCHIEF
OLIVIA WANTS NOTHING MORE THAN TO ROLL OVER AND DIE. This is so stupid and predictable that it makes her head hurt even more, somehow. So here she is, on her couch, swaddled with blankets and stewing in her rage as she waits for the pain meds to kick in.
Let’s recap; Olivia spent all day yesterday walking around in the pouring rain to appease her ex-boss, came home, and promptly collapsed. This morning, she woke up shivering and in more pain than she cares to describe, with a fever of 101.6° F.
She’s sick.
Is this an issue she could have predicted in her sleep? Yes, very much so. Does that make it any less painful and annoying? No, it absolutely does not.
She’s spent most of the morning napping— it was very fun to explain her present state to Loki between his court meetings.
She presses the reject button as Bruce’s contact pops up on her screen for the 43rd time this morning, glaring at her coloring app as the call screen vanishes. At the top of her screen, three new message notifications appear, one after the other.
Bill Nye: Did you take anything yet?
Bill Nye: Are you nauseous?
Bill Nye: Do you have a headache?
Olivia groans, rolling her eyes. Swiping out of her coloring app, she stares at the little indicator next to her messages app, telling her she has 37 unread texts. Is it even worth texting back?
Another notification appears, and she rolls her eyes, deciding to text back.
Bill Nye: Do you have a cough? Do you need me to bring you some cough syrup?
Olivia: istg bruce if u call me 1 more time ill block u
Bill Nye: I’m just checking on you.
Bill Nye: Are you feeling okay? What are your symptoms?
Olivia: im fine but im trying 2 rest + i cant with u blowing up my phone
Bill Nye: Okay, hint taken.
Bill Nye: If you need anything, please call me.
Olivia: k will bye
Bill Nye: Bye.
Olivia drops her phone onto her stomach, forcing herself to be content with the 20 minutes of silence she just bought. He’ll be back at it soon enough (like the last three times), but for now she’s going to enjoy it while it lasts.
She falls quickly enough into a restless slumber.
***
The sky is red, the clouds swirling together like an apocalyptic mandala, and ash is gathered like a blanket over the ground. It’s probably Ohio, she thinks— the landscape is familiar, but not enough to be certain.
On the horizon is a figure, a familiar one. She waves at him, though he doesn’t seem to know she’s there. She moves to take a step.
Her foot falls with an unexpected weight, and her step shakes the earth, leaving her stumbling. The ground cracks in front of her, and she tumbles face-first into the ravine.
***
Olivia wakes to the sound of shuffling in her apartment. Groggily, she sits up, finding her headache to be a little better. She blinks once, then twice.
Is she hallucinating, or is that Loki in her kitchen?
He’s squinting at spices like he’s never been in a kitchen since the day he was born, and… to be fair, he probably hasn’t. He has a can of soup on the counter, and some tea boiling on the stove.
“…cilantro?” he mutters, at a volume she can only barely make out.
“You… don’t put spices in tea,” she advises him. He recoils, looking over at her with wide eyes.
“You’re awake,” he recognizes. Then, he glances at the cilantro, and puts it down quickly. “Well, of course I know you don’t put spices in tea. It’s— it was for the soup.” Olivia smiles, amused.
“I’m sure it was,” she agrees. “Honestly, I’m a little surprised to see you here. In my kitchen.” He raises his eyebrows.
“Would you rather I wasn’t?” he challenges. She raises her hands in surrender.
“Calm down there, trigger fingers,” she chuckles. “I was just curious.” His nose crinkles slightly.
“Trigger fingers,” he repeats under his breath with a small scoff. “So many words at your disposal and you call me trigger fingers— what does that even mean?” Olivia pretends she didn’t hear him.
“I don’t know if was you or my pain meds, but I feel a lot better now,” she sighs, stretching as she stands.
“Perhaps a bit of both,” he suggests, taking the saucepan off the burner. “Do you feel better enough for tea?” She nods, walking over to the kitchen entrance.
“Yeah, tea sounds great right now,” she confirms as he pours a mug of it.
“Well you’re in luck, then. I just made a pot,” he replies, striding straight past her with his mug. Olivia chuckles with an amused shrug, moving to pour herself some.
“Making the sick woman pour her own tea,” she tuts mockingly. “Disgraceful.” He rolls his eyes— not that she can see it, with him behind her.
“Well, I made it, didn’t I? Besides, you said you were feeling better,” he points out. “If you’re well enough to mock me, you can pour your own tea.” She chuckles again, turning around to look at him with her fresh cup of tea.
“So, you can just… show up now?” she prompts, raising her eyebrows a little in question. He half-smiles, looking fairly amused by the question.
“Well I can’t do it all the time,” he reminds her. “I am king of Asgard, after all.” A supremely smug smile forms on his face at that.
“Still,” she shrugs, “it’s a nice ability to have.” He nods, his mood lifted by the chance to remind her that he’s a king now.
“I have a lot of them,” he muses. She snorts, shooting Loki a good-natured, but still amused smile. She lifts her mug to take a sip.
Her apartment door swings open.
Loki flinches, his appearance automatically shimmering into the disguise, and Olivia chokes on her tea.
“Are you okay?” Bruce inquires from the doorway, cringing in sympathy as his sister coughs. “That’s a pretty bad cough— you‘re sicker than I thought.” To his credit, he sounds genuinely concerned, but Olivia shoots him a murderous glare as her lungs finish punishing her.
“I don’t have a cough,” she protests, voice coming out a bit strained from all the coughing she just did. “I choked on my tea because you walked into my apartment without knocking and gave me a fucking heart attack, you jackass.” He blinks twice, his gaze flicking briefly to her mug.
He has the decency and sense to look at least a little ashamed.
“…ah,” he notes, unable to keep his voice from pitching up in embarrassment. He shuffles awkwardly. “That’s— that’s my bad. I should’ve… who’s that?” he switches in the middle of his sentence, finally noticing Loki, illusion face and all.
Olivia could swear that her heart stops for a split second.
“Leo,” she replies without missing a beat, voice even as ever. “He’s my boyfriend; I’m feeling a lot better, actually, so could you get out of my apartment?” Bruce blinks.
“Boyfriend?” he repeats, glossing over the part where she asked him to leave. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”
“Well now you do,” she replies, tone short. “Leo, this is my stalker Bruce, Bruce this is my boyfriend Leo. Introductions made.” Bruce turns on her, offended.
“I am not a stalker!” he protests. He turns to Loki, offering an awkward smile. “I’m not a stalker,” he repeats, more placatingly this time, “I’m her brother. It’s nice to meet you.”
Loki shakes his hand with a small, charming smile.
“I’m aware,” he assures Bruce, ignoring the way that Bruce’s face contorts in confusion for a split second, “she speaks about you often. A pleasure to finally meet you.” Bruce nods.
“Yeah,” he agrees slowly, “same to you— she talks about me?” he finally catches up to what Loki said, rather than that he has exactly the same voice.
“Oh yeah,” Olivia confirms sarcastically, “told him all about you— breaking into my apartment, trying to steal my books, refusing to leave when I ask, and now interrupting my dates. Really impressive for not being a stalker.” Bruce shoots Olivia a side-eyed glare.
“I’m not that bad,” he contradicts, “and I already apologized about the book. Stop making me sound like an asshole.” Olivia narrows her eyes at him, but decides not to go for the low-hanging fruit.
“Get out of my apartment and I will,” she shoots back. “I feel a lot better, which means Doctor Banner can go use his PhDs at the lab instead, thanks.” He glares at her, but acquiesces quickly enough.
“Fine,” he relents. “Okay. Stop ignoring my messages though, I thought you… died, or something.” He shoots Loki a stiff smile. “Nice to meet you.” Loki nods awkwardly back, and Bruce exits stage front door.
“Wow,” Loki sighs, shifting back into his original form once Bruce is gone. “That was excruciating. You’re both terrible.” Olivia hums.
“Yeah but I’m your terrible and he beat the shit out of you, so…” she shrugs, checking her phone when it dings with another new message from Bruce.
Bill Nye: Am I crazy, or does Leo sound just like Loki?
A smirk forms on her face, seeing an opportunity to torture her brother.
“I suppose that’s true,” Loki acquiesces, though he glances at her with displeasure at having brought up the Hulk incident. She’s not paying attention to him anymore.
Olivia: woooooooow
Olivia: just bc hes british huh
Olivia: expected better from you
Olivia: smh
“What are you looking at?” Loki inquires, leaning over to see her screen. Her smirk grows with amusement as her phone pings with another notification.
Bill Nye: what
Olivia takes great satisfaction in putting her phone on silent as it frantically dings with notification after notification of Bruce scrambling to self-correct.
“I was just antagonizing my brother a little more,” she shrugs, abandoning her phone on the counter. “Sorry, babe. My attention is now all yours.” He glows a little.
“I’m sure I could think of something to do with it,” he muses, a pleased smirk forming on his face. Olivia will have fun rereading Bruce’s panicked spiel later, but for now…
For now she’s gotta enjoy this rare opportunity while it’s in front of her.