Such Trouble
The two women headed down to the lab to visit the nuclear physiatrist. As they walked in he turned and his face lit up as he saw Natasha.
“Hey Nat, I have those reports for you about returned population density clusters, oh hi Sylvie!”
Bruce waved briefly at Sylvie as she followed Natasha into the room then handed a thick folder to the female Avenger who traded him for the mug of coffee.
“Oh you’re the best—anyway, so it’s mostly what we expected, but it might be good to keep an eye on some of the emerging nations to be sure they aren’t struggling for resources with the increased population.”
“Fair enough,” Natasha sighed as she glanced at the folder, “Bruce, Sylvie and Loki are going to be leaving us soon and as it turns out it may impact the timeline somewhat.
You two are better with all the time and physics stuff so I’ll let her explain it—if you don’t need anything from me, I’ll see you at dinner.
I have a meeting to hold with our friend’s off world and I should probably make sure I look over the data before then,” Natasha smiled at Sylvie and gave her arm a gentle squeeze before turning to leave.
Sylvie gave her a grateful smile before Natasha left them alone in the lab.
“Bye Nat,” Bruce said with a warm smile before looking to Sylvie expectantly.
“As Natasha explained, we’ve made an agreement to limit our interaction with this timeline for the sake of its stability. Our presence is an unstable variable which cannot remain indefinitely, but we intend to return periodically.”
Bruce gave her a sad look of understanding, “Well we’ll be sorry to see you go, but I trust that you know this stuff better than me, I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve taught me.”
Sylvie smiled kindly at Bruce, “You’re welcome Bruce, and if you’d like I can be sure to alert you anytime we visit the timeline just to prevent any false alarms with our existence.”
“That would actually be quite helpful, thanks. And thank you again for the Nexus Algorithm—that’s what I’ve been calling it—it’s been helpful in monitoring the affects of unstable energy created by our time jumps. You know just to keep an eye on our impact,” Bruce smiled gratefully at Sylvie.
“Good to hear. Your time jumps were apparently ‘supposed’ to happen, but our intervention certainly could’ve altered things,” Sylvie reassured him.
“Sure, and luckily the timeline seems to have bounced back. I guess it takes a little while to settle, huh?”
“What do you mean…?” Sylvie asked cautiously, spotting Loki in her peripheral vision as he walked into the room to stand beside her.
“Hey Loki,” Bruce held up a hand in greeting to the man before turning back to Sylvie, “oh it’s just, last night I checked a while after we got back and the timeline was still branching—am I saying that right?”
Loki quirked his head slightly, “But you reversing what Thanos did… that shouldn’t have caused a branch…”
Sylvie elbowed him hard in the side, biting her lip anxiously.
“Well, Sylvie said it might since you gave us the stones… so I guess that caused a bigger disruption than we expected,” Bruce reasoned, not seeming to notice Sylvie’s body language as she tried to clue Loki in quietly.
“Ah, so it created some branching when you got back…?” Loki asked as he swallowed nervously, “that’s not unheard of…”
“Well, I mean, it started to spike around seven forty—no surprise there, we made the jump at seven thirty— but it didn’t really go off the charts till around eight…”
Bruce studied the graph intently, “and it seemed to go on till almost nine o’clock…” he looked back at the two of them curiously, “so I guess these things take time to settle, like an earthquake?”
Sylvie was now blushing furiously and Bruce furrowed his brow in confusion.
“What’s up? Did I miss something?”
“Uh—I think Sylvie is just a little embarrassed to have…not warned you about time—er, quakes…” Loki explained hastily.
Sylvie pursed her lips but nodded in agreement, eyes downcast as her counterpart lied for the both of them.
“Oh, well no worries—I mean, that certainly explains the blips this morning as well—and to my knowledge it didn’t cause us any real trouble… though we did have an unexpected visitor last night who might disagree.”
“Yes, we spoke with him… don’t trouble yourself, Bruce, he shouldn’t bother you again.”
Loki smiled his most pacifying grin, “Now if you don’t mind, I am in need of a bit of sustenance, Sylvie?”
“Hm?” She asked distracted, “Oh right, yes, in desperate need—let’s go, uh, take care of that.”
Loki rolled his eyes the slightest bit at her fumbling but lead her out of the lab before she could say anything else.
“Well that was most eloquent of you dear,” Loki said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow as he pressed the button for the elevator.
“Oh shove off—it caught me by surprise is all,” she huffed irritably.
“Why… because our lovemaking sends the timeline into fits?” He teased in a sultry tone as he followed her into the lift.
Sylvie smacked him in the arm, “Precisely. Lucky for us Banner seems oblivious to the idea, I don’t exactly want to broadcast that information…” she looked up at the ceiling irritably.
“Oh I don’t know… timeline shattering… world ending, mind blowing—” he purred, stepping close to slide his hands onto her hips.
“You’re fully just phishing now. Do you really need me to stroke your ego about last night right now?” She sighed skeptically.
“Not at all, my ego is the last thing that needs stroking…” he grinned and she smacked his arm again.
“Will you focus?” She huffed, “aren’t you the least bit concerned about this?”
Loki sighed with frustration and flicked his wrist to pull the stop button on the elevator.
“Honestly no, Sylvie. We changed the course of time—our very existence here is against the dictate of the ‘sacred timeline’… so if us being intimate causes a few fluctuations while we’re here I’m honestly not bothered—regardless of what that hack of a sorcerer says.”
He stepped back into her space, studying her face fondly.
“Time is in flux… and I’m really not all that surprised last night altered the timeline… because it changed a lot for me too.”
Sylvie’s eyes softened at that and she allowed him to take her hands gently. He felt more honest than he ever had in his entire life, and for once it didn’t frighten him.
Loki had already put his heart on the line for her and Sylvie had responded in kind. Now, he just needed her to understand where his sense of clarity came from as he looked into her eyes with pure conviction of feeling.
“Last night was… the most incredible night of my life… and it changed me, healed a piece of my heart I hadn’t realized was missing… So, if I’m being honest, I would be more surprised if it hadn’t created a branch, because it changed everything for me.”
Sylvie’s breath caught slightly and she smiled softly at the sentiment. She had tried to compartmentalize while dealing with the Avengers, but as always Loki’s words had broken through her defenses and left her only wanting him more.
She ran her hands softly up his forearms and sighed as she leaned into him, “You know… you really are a smooth talker, Laufeyson…”
Loki smirked, “So I’ve been told…”
“I’m afraid my immunity seems to be wearing off… soon I’ll just be another simpering fool for your magic…” she purred softly.
“You could never be that,” he murmured firmly.
“I know,” she smirked, “but I could always pretend… let you get nice and comfortable…”
“Ah, then turn the tables on me when I least expect it… sounds like business as usual,” he grinned playfully and flicked his wrist to allow the elevator to continue its descent.
“Mmm, a quick learner too…” she leaned up to kiss him softly, breath ghosting over his lips, “You and I are such trouble together… I don’t think I’ll ever get enough…”
Loki hummed happily into her kiss, “Oh love, you’re all the mischief I’ll ever need…”