"Darling, wake up," Loki bid you early the next morning.

"Loki, it's early," you grumbled at him and tried to snuggle closer against him to go back to sleep.

"I know it is, but I have a surprise for you," he told you softly. You opened your eyes at that.

"A good surprise?" you asked him warily. One never knew with a silver-tongued Trickster boyfriend.

"I certainly think so, though you will probably grumble at me for not telling you I was doing this sooner," he admitted.

You sat up at that. It was too early for such flowery language. Or whatever he was up to. "Loki, what'd you do?" you asked him, truly concerned with how excited he was looking over this plan at whatever gods' cursed hour this was.

Loki grinned his Cheshire cat grin at you in reply. That wasn't reassuring. "You'll see," he replied.

You sighed. That meant this was either going to be really fun, or really terrible. There was no middle ground. "Tell me it'll be fun at least," you begged, unsure that you could handle a terrible day.

"It will be fun," he agreed, but you caught the tone of mischief in his voice and the glint in his eyes. You resigned yourself to a day he thought was fun and you would hate.

At least you could wear a simple dress that morning. He had set one out for you. You still couldn't wait to get your magic back so you could dress yourself with magic. You hated relying on him and being without your powers again. There was a knock on the suite door just as you had finished tying your hair into a simple knot at the back of your head, leaving the one strand of raven hair loose to frame your face. "That's for you," Loki told you, indicating the suite door.

You gave him a look, but went to go answer it. Frigga, Sif, and Astrid, one of the warrior women who had become your friend, were waiting outside for you. "Happy birthday!" they bid you brightly. You looked over your shoulder at Loki. Your birthday wasn't for another couple of weeks, which he damn well knew.

"Loki told us that the calendars do not quite add up right between Midgard and here," Frigga explained at your obviously confused expression. "He chose today as the closest logical day to celebrate your birthday. It also appears that he did not tell you," she added with a smile.

"Trickster, you are a creature made entirely of silliness," you told Loki as he came up next to you.

"Mischief and chaos," he corrected with a fond smile at the old tease.

"I'm not seeing a difference," you told him and stuck your tongue out at him.

He chuckled and leaned down to kiss your cheek. "I will see you later, darling. The girls insisted on stealing you away for something feminine this morning," Loki told you with a smile.

"You can join us!" Astrid laughed at him. "I've seen you at balls before," she continued laughing. Even Sif laughed at that and Frigga smiled. Loki used to shapeshift into a female and go to balls that way just for laughs. Or because she felt like it since Loki was genderfluid.

"I will let you ladies have your fun today," he replied with an elegant bow.

Sif and Astrid took your arms and the four of you left the royal wing together. You ended up in a section of the palace you had never been to, near the healing wing. You found out that it was a full-service spa. The morning was spent with pampering and girl talk. Frigga even told you embarrassing stories of Thor and Loki from when they were kids and Astrid told stories about her boyfriend in the royal guard. They were talking of having the soulbond ceremony after the traditional year of courtship. Naturally, you had to ask all about him. You hadn't done this kind of girls' outing before, but it was so natural and fun that the awkwardness quickly dissipated.

You left the spa in excellent spirits and more formal dresses. Even Astrid, though she was still armed to the teeth. You still had your dagger sheath too. You didn't go anywhere without it, and it was perfectly common and expected on Asgard to walk around armed. You did have to wear your tiara, though, which was a new experience. You met up with your significant others right outside the palace. You and Sif cheered when Astrid greeted her boyfriend with a kiss. She gave you a rude gesture in reply, which made you all laugh, though Frigga had to pretend to scold her for it.

"You look ravishing, darling," Loki told you as he offered you his arm in formal escort position.

You placed your hand on it as per usual, the gesture automatic. "Thank you," you accepted the compliment today, especially since the nice ladies in the spa had done so much work to make you extra pretty. Even if they had complained about the illogical lock of raven-black hair. You had to explain it to them multiple times before they'd agreed to leave it alone, though they should've known what a lovelock was. They were just being persnickety. You had a feeling Loki and you would be re-starting a fashion trend with the lovelock soon...

You went out to the palace gardens where an elaborate flower-viewing was set up. There was all sorts of food and tables set around the garden. Astrid broke off once you reached the rest of the court who were gathered in the garden. The procession of the royals made your way up to a platform overlooking one of the gardens. Loki led you to the front so you could get a good view at whatever was going to happen.

A bell chimed and suddenly the flowers in the garden you were looking over all began to bloom at the same time. It was absolutely breathtaking to watch. The flowers all opened, revealing petals of the same magenta-red color as your hair. "They are called sigynite flowers," Loki whispered into your ear. "They only bloom one day a year,"

"They're gorgeous," you replied, staring in rapture over the flowers, trying to fix in your memory exactly how they looked.

Loki chuckled. "There is one preserved in our suite for you, Sigyn," he whispered in your ear. You rolled your eyes at his use of your superhero alias, which was apparently also derived from the name of the flowers.

"Sigyn?" Sif asked as you took your seats for the lunch that came with the flower viewing.

You laughed, apparently she had really good hearing to have heard Loki's question. "You're getting you back for 'Lo' aren't you?" you asked Loki, who tried to look innocent. He failed. Miserably. you turned back to Sif to explain. "Back on Midgard, many of those of us with powers fight crime and villains with powers. Generally we don't want people to know our real names, since it can put our loved ones in danger, so everyone on the team has a superhero name. Sigyn is mine,"

"So Loki chose the day of the sigynite flower blooming for your birthday," Sif finished. You nodded your agreement and laughed over your silly Trickster boyfriend. You had a nice lunch with your Asgardian family. There would also be a formal ball and feast that evening. In the meantime, your family gave you birthday presents. You hadn't been expecting anything from them, even after they had announced it was your birthday today.

Thor gave you a tome that was a famous fantasy series in Asgard. "Thanks Thor!" you told him in glee. Loki had to take it from your hands before you started reading it and ignoring the rest of your presents. Sif gave you a beautiful necklace, which Loki helped you put on immediately. It was a simple, but gorgeous diamond. "Thank you," you told her with a real smile. You had a feeling that it, like the bracelet Loki had given you on your 18th birthday wasn't going to be taken off often, if ever. It was so pretty, but simple enough to be an everyday item. Sif was obviously relieved that you like it. Frigga, though she had said it was from Odin too, gave you a box to unwrap. Odin had left after lunch to go do work. You opened the box curiously, wondering what the queen would have gotten you for your birthday. Inside was a little handmade cloth doll. It was beautiful and extremely well made. She even had magenta-red hair and the same blue eyes that your were usually. "She's beautiful," you saw in awe as you lifted the little doll out of the box. you saw Sif's eyes widen at it when she realized what it was.

"You did not grow up here, and my children were all boys, so Loki would not have told you the tradition, and you would not have had one of these dolls growing up," Frigga started. You looked away from the doll to give her your attention. "When a daughter is born, her mother will give her a handmade doll in the daughter's likeness. The vision-seers aid with that aspect of course. The doll is a symbol of a mother's love as well as a constant companion for the girl as she grows."

"You made her?" you asked, your voice full of emotion and tears of joy in your eyes. She nodded with a smile. You didn't have words to thank her with. All you could do was go to her and give her a hug. "I will cherish her forever," you finally found words that might, might be enough.

"You are welcome, daughter. I give her to you in love, and with admiration for how wonderful you are for my Loki. I have never seen him so happy as you have when he is with you."

You thanked them all again for the wonderful presents and the wonderful birthday.

"It is not over yet, darling," Loki reminded you. You stared at the beautiful flowers for a little longer before you all went in to your own matters until dinner that evening. You headed back to our suite to relax until dinner. You set the doll from Frigga on your bedside table next to the sigynite flower Loki had in a vase there. Loki pulled out a box when you had settled on the couch.

"Loki, you didn't have to get me anything!" you protested. Your real birthday wasn't for a couple of weeks, plus you didn't expect anything anyway.

"Yes, I did," he replied with a smile as he handed you the box. You smiled at his silliness and carefully opened the box. Inside was a gorgeous silver charm bracelet with a bunch of charms on it. He helped you put it on. "Hold one of the charms," he bid you softly. You picked one at random and held it in your other hand.

You were standing in a memory of two years ago. You and Loki were on the stairs up to your suites in the tower, ending a conversation with your uncle. "I have to go to work. Can you two try to behave?" Tony grumbled, mostly looking at you. You raised your hands in surrender.

"Fury already threatened me with chains until The Harlequin is dealt with. Don't worry, Tony, there will be no trouble for me," you told him with as much sincerity as you could muster. "I'll even promise to stay out of the science lab." He rolled his eyes, but gave you a hug goodbye and a threat to Loki before he went to work.

"That threat lacked punch," Loki commented as you walked up the stairs together. "He did not even threaten me with death this time," he mused.

"Maybe he's starting to like you," you told him with a grin.

"I highly doubt that. He does not like that I spend time with you," he reminded you.

"He's my uncle. That's what they do," you replied.

"What does he think will happen?" Loki asked when you reached the floor that your rooms were on. You gave him a mischievous grin, which made him pause just long enough.

"This," you replied, standing up on your toes to place a light, timid kiss on his lips. You darted away quickly while he stood there shocked. You didn't stay to see his reaction, you didn't want to see disappointment or anger, or any other of a dozen emotions. You didn't know what his reaction would be, if he would want it or not. You were willing to play it off as a joke to save your friendship if that's what it took. Instead, you felt a hand wrap around your arm and spin you to face him. It was Loki, of course. He let go of your arm, but wrapped an arm around your waist. He held you to him pressed against his cool body. He held you lightly, though, and you knew you could break away without any real effort.

"If you are going to do that, darling, you should at least do it properly," he purred as he pushed your hair away from your face.

"I don't know how to do it properly," you whispered. You'd never been kissed before.

"Then allow me to demonstrate," he purred. He hesitated and looked into your eyes. "Unless you do not wish do. I will not kiss you against your will. I will not force you into a relationship," he said softly, gently.

You nodded, though you couldn't tear your gaze from his. "I want this," you whispered. He leaned down and kissed you. He tasted of cool mint and a crisp winter's day. Your heart fluttered with his cool lips, firm, but gentle against yours as he held you to him. He broke the kiss after a long minute and set you gently back on your feet. You smiled giddily up at him. "That was definitely the proper way to do that," you finally told him. He grinned.

"I am glad my lady is pleased," he replied.

The memory vision ended. You just looked at him in awe. "They're all memories?" you asked.

Loki nodded. "All of them are memories," he replied with a soft smile. "However, I would not play with the red one today. It is a difficult memory, though the outcome led to come pleasant side effects," he absently touched the soulbond marks on his arm and you nodded your understanding.

"It's wonderful. Thank you!" you told him. You wrapped your arms around him to kiss him. A lot. And you didn't do much else besides enjoy kisses and each other's company until you had to go to dinner and the ball.

Both were elaborate extremely formal events, but dancing the night away with Loki was amazing. You had gained the knowledge of all of the court dances through the soulbond, and had secretly practiced the moves so you wouldn't look like an idiot when you came back to Asgard. You surprised Loki with the grace you had managed to earn through that practice.

It was nearly dawn when the ball ended. You were both exhausted and grinning and it was such a wonderful not-a-birthday.