Chapter 4
The idea of visiting Thor in Stark tower by myself was daunting, so instead, I invited the others to come here for a visit. The invitation included Tony and Pepper, as well as Thor and Loki by extension. For the past day or so, I’ve been racking my brain trying to decide whether to invite Michael, and in the end, I finally decided that the idea was the lesser of two evils. It’d be fine—especially considering the fact that our small get-together has now somehow turned into a larger kickback of sorts.
Oh, the benefits of having college roommates…
Thankfully, the apartment is large enough for a number of people to break off into social groups, and still leave plenty of space in between. Though I can’t imagine Iron Man at a college kickback, I’d given Pepper and Tony the heads up well in advance about the nature of the occasion, in case it’d crossed their minds to dress all fancy. By the time they arrive, I’m several glasses into the bottle of Chardonnay I’d bought earlier today—a limit for the night that I’d set for myself, since I shouldn’t be drinking at all this close to a mission. It works just fine for taking the edge off though, so I’m satisfied.
Taking one last swig of what’s left in my glass, I pivot when a quiet knock comes at the door. Michael reaches out and tugs on a small section of my high pony tail as I walk by, swaying my head to the music playing at an appropriate volume, and narrows his handsome eyes to a sultry width, giving an endearingly suggestive scan down the length of my backside. Noting, no doubt, the plain, skin tight purple top, and my usual thick, black leggings—which are actually beginning to wear out from how frequently I use them.
I kick my foot up and pat him gently on the leg before swiveling back around, and heading toward the door. Grinning happily at my perfectly achieved level of inebriation, I open it up to see four familiar faces chatting amongst themselves.
Pepper is the first to greet me on the way in, followed by Tony. At the sight of Thor’s big, goofy smile, I throw my hands up. “THOR!”
"Cerys!” he returns the enthusiasm, snaking his arms underneath me and lifting me up into a bear hug.
“Oh my god I missed you so much,” I swing my feet back and forth in the air for a moment, until he sets me down. I step back a little with a bit of a stumble, and behind him, I see Loki glancing absently between us, and tension ripples in his jaw as he saunters by.
I clear my throat awkwardly and step away, making room for Thor to enter the apartment as well, and shut the door behind him. I’d expected Thor to stay behind from the rest of the company, and so he does—while the others stroll further into the dispersed crowd.
I raise a brow at the way Tony throws his hands up in a greeting, and even more so at the enthusiasm with which my roommates leap up to greet him and Pepper together. Though Loki is the strangest of all at this moment—I’ve never seen him so attached to either of them before, and I tilt my head at the sight of his enthused acquainting with the others, narrowing my eyes as he goes so far as accepting a beer from Rita.
Thor interrupts my thoughts. “How are you, old friend?” he asks, and I look over at him, returning the warm grin.
“Oh I’m good, I’m really good—I mean, I’d be better if I saw you at all these past two years, but… Aw hell, whatever—I just missed you! How’ve you been all this time? How’s Norway?”
Thor chuckles as he gives me a nod, “Norway is beautiful,” he goes on as we saunter toward the kitchen, where I pick up a beer to hand him. “It’s quite a bit different than New York in practically every way—and everyone knows our names there, our histories. It’s a bit strange, especially when you’re trying to make some polite conversation, and the other person already knows so much about you.”
“Well, I imagine it gets that way with just being an Avenger, right? Being famous and all?” I shrug, casting a glance imperceptibly in the others’ direction.
Our ample furniture allows almost everyone to be sitting, and a circle of people has pointedly formed around Pepper and Tony—even Loki, as he sits beside them off to the side.
I narrow in briefly at the way that Rita goes and sits a bit closer to him than any of the others. He looks over at her briskly, and grins politely as she starts making conversation—flipping her chocolatey brown hair over her shoulder.
“You might think it to be the case,” Thor’s voice snaps me back to the present. “But it’s not nearly the same.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t know though, huh?” I smile at him, leaning over the counter to fill a glass of water. “How’re Sif and Heimdall doing?”
“Good,” he says. “Heimdall especially, he seems to be more of a king to our people than I am.”
“And Loki?” I ask before thinking, and in the corner of my eye, I see Loki’s face trail in my direction briefly—without turning toward me fully—before resuming whatever conversation has him thoroughly involved with my roommate.
I swallow thickly as I look back at Thor, in time to see him look back over at me from Loki’s direction. “He’s also doing well, he—” Thor nods as he parts his lips to add something more, but then decides against it. “He’s been an enormous help, assumed his responsibilities quite aptly.”
“Good, good,” I bob my head, sipping the water—letting the briskness cool my cheeks.
Just as Thor is about to say something else, another voice interrupts him, “Oh crap, you’re Thor, aren’t you!?” I blink as I recognize Michael’s voice, and he suddenly appears at my side, eyes widened with enthusiasm as he holds a hand out to Thor.
“That I am,” Thor booms proudly, glancing at Michael’s arm appearing around my shoulder as he takes the outstretched. “Have we met before?”
“Oh no, no,” Michael shakes his hand, and recoils slightly as he grins down at me, the corners of his eyes turnt upward in a kindly manner as he steps behind me just a bit, as though to goad me on to introduce him properly.
“This is Michael,” I gesture to him as I peer up at Thor, hoping my widened eyes are enough to feign enthusiasm. “My boyfriend!”
For a brief instant, Thor’s smile abates just a bit as he stares at me surprisedly, almost as though no one had clarified to him I was seeing someone—although I’d thought that day at the festival was pretty indicative, to everyone else at least… Maybe he was drunk?
“Oh, how charming,” he says, gesturing to us. “How did you two meet?”
“She’s the Academy’s choreographer, and I was pretty new around the time she started, so we just got to talking, and… yeah!” he nods.
Thor raises a brow at me. “Ah, so that job did turn out then, did it?”
I tilt my head with a nod. “It did!” I look over at Michael, gesturing to Thor. “Yeah we go way back, he knew me when I was just applying,” I pause briefly, second guessing how much information I ought to divulge. “And he was one of my roommates too, along with some other people—Heimdall, Sif and Loki. They lived here before moving to Norway!”
“Wow, that’s really cool!” Michael says to him, and my brows rise a bit at his reaction.
“Indeed,” Thor continues, casting me a knowing look. “And we shall have to come and see your production sometime.”
I nod as my jaw hangs open. “Oh, is… I hope you guys are sticking around long enough for that?”
“Yes,” he sighs relaxedly a bit, trailing his eyes downward just a bit as he nods. “We’ll be here for quite some time, yes.”
I bob my head slowly as thoughts zip through my head—hopefully unnoticeable from the surface. “That’s great, that’s…” I pause, looking over at the counter, and the sound of Loki’s chuckle somewhere deep in the music draws my eyes up to him. I blink as I watch him take Rita’s phone into his hand, and punch something into it. I shake my head briskly as I look between Michael and Thor, and gesture to the living room. “Let’s go catch up with the others, yeah?”
“Sure,” Thor nods, and follows myself and Michael into the living room.
Meanwhile, my throat sinks further and further into my chest as I realize that it really may not have been the best idea to invite both Loki and Michael to this thing—especially as Michael pulls me into his lap unwittingly.
I chew my lip slightly as I look over at Tony and Pepper, tuning in to the conversation as I tacitly note Loki’s lack of a reaction to Michael’s display of affection—followed by a sharp bite as I remind myself that it’s really not my concern. If Michael were having such thoughts about another woman, it’d probably break my heart.
Fuck it, I murmur inwardly as I take Michael’s beer out of his hands and throw some back.
That last thought alone was enough for me to get pissed at myself, and I decide right then and there that this is the last night that I’ll put myself—or Michael, or Loki—in this situation. Loki came, I saw him, we said hello, he even came to this party—all’s good and well in the world of pleasantries and civility. No more reason for me to see him after tonight.
***
“Shit…” I mumble as I lean on Pepper to my left. There’s less than a handful of people left at the party, and by the time people start shuffling out the door, I start realizing that I really drank way more than I intended to—which is becoming a habit, it seems…
Damn. Another issue to add to my list of things to deal with.
With Michael to my right, I sigh as I roll my head against the back of the couch, loosely paying attention to the ongoing conversation about our political climate—how it has, and hasn’t changed over the past two years. And by the time it’s over, I couldn’t be happier. It’s a shame, really. I’d had higher hopes for how the night would go, though maybe I shouldn’t have.
No—no, I really shouldn’t have.
I press my lips together as I consider the way I’d tried to justify the evening, how dumb it was for me to think that the night would play out the way it did in my head. I thought I’d be much more engaged in the conversation than I was, and I thought that having Loki and Michael in the same room would be fine—maybe even a bit satisfying on my end, if I’m being perfectly honest with myself, since I still feel glimmers of bitterness about the way things ended between us. Guess that bitterness came back to bite me in the ass, and I deserve the discomfort and twinges of guilt I’ve gotten instead.
Rightfully so. I shouldn’t have done this—not to Loki, not to myself, and not to Michael, even though he has no clue.
Do better, asshole, I tell myself inwardly, even as I slide my gaze imperceptibly over Loki and Rita, and then avert it back to Michael beside me. I rest my head against his shoulder, trying to ensconce myself in the security I feel—and have always felt—with him.
Although the sounds go on around me, I doze off for a bit, waking only when the last bits of people start to leave. Loki barely looks in my direction as he stands, and saunters past Rita with the others. With Michael in tow, we stroll lazily behind them all.
“It was good seeing you again, Lady Cerys,” Thor says as he hugs me goodbye.
Pepper and Tony do the same, while Loki merely nods in my direction as he backs up closer to the door, giving Michael a quick sidelong glance over his shoulder. I watch as he turns and walks back out into the hallway.
“I’ll text you,” Pepper mumbles as she leans in to my ear briefly, and I nod affirmatively in turn.
The goodbyes continue on for a few moments, but I look away before it ends—before they all fully disappear around the threshold. And when Andy to closes the door behind them, I sigh a breath of relief at the night’s end.
“Hey babe, you okay?” Michael asks suddenly, and I blink up at him.
“What?”
“You seem a little off,” he says, turning to follow me down the hallway, and tucking a strand of hair away that came loose from my pony tail.
“Oh,” I murmur, shaking my head. “No, I’m fine. Just tired,” I take his hand. “Let’s go to bed?”
“Sure,” he nods, and I tuck my arm over his. “By the way… You didn’t mention that you lived with some of the Asgardians a while ago.”
“Didn’t I?” I give him a pointed look.
“Yeah, so there were… guys and all, and Thor was one of em?”
“Yup,” I nod, pressing my lips together. “We were besties.”
“So… You and Thor, nothing ever happened between you two?”
I widen my eyes as I look up at him, shaking my head. “Oh God no, he’s… we’re just friends, we’ve only ever been just friends. Seriously, you have nothing to worry about. Nothing ever happened."
Okay, technically a lie by omission—but opening up the can of worms about sleeping with one of my roommates would be disastrous. I never even referred to Loki as my boyfriend, that automatically puts Michael above him in the hierarchy of personal involvements. So that part’s true—he has nothing to worry about.
“Oh, okay,” he chuckles. “Okay cool, yeah—sorry, I’m tired. Let’s just go to bed.”
I squeeze his arm. “Yes,” I sigh. “And no worries, I’m tired too.”