I shifted myself to the side again, groaning irritably as I found myself unable to get comfortable whatsoever, no matter how many positions I shuffled into. My discomfort was only doubled as the heat from Sebastian's skin pressed against me added to the high temperature of the room and even in my thin satin night dress, I was still sweltering.

I gently removed his hand from around my waist, turning to his sleeping face as I made a mental note to fix the air conditioning as soon as possible. There was no way my British born body could handle the heat of this summer without some proper, working air conditioning.

My eyes rolled over his face, carefully studying each part of his skin in the cold blue hue of the night that spilled fluidly from the window. His face was relaxed and softly strung in sleep, his mouth ever so slightly turned up in a self satisfied smirk.

I always tended to be grateful of his presence when the night turned up. It was selfish of me,  but I seemed to crave some form of company once the sky had calmed to a cool, crisp darkness and a soft spoken silence had descended over us. It was then when I turned against solitude, I resented my lack of company and truly wished to not be alone for a while.

Sebastian sighed softly, his quiet breath fanning over my forehead as I clenched my jaw uncomfortably, already beginning the age old battle between my selfish need and my guilty conscience.

I knew what I was doing was so wrong. Few people in the world had ever done anything that could deserve this kind of cruelty, and Sebastian was definitely not one of them. I was selfishly using him, like naught but an object to satiate my need for company when I felt alone and to temporarily distract me from the corrupt body of my memories that seemed to hover over me in its cold agonising form, plucking each string of my sanity when I was most vulnerable.

I was a cold hearted bitch, and I could never deserve the pure heart Sebastian constantly tried to hand me. His pressing affections and undying loyalty were luxuries that I was starved of for a reason. I wasn't built for love it was as simple as that. I took people's lives, not their hearts.

Even if for some reason I decided I could try to feel something for him, everything I built up for him would be fabricated and misleading. I couldn't give him what he wanted from me, or give him what he deserved, being the kind soul he was.

Yet, here I was, calmly wrapped in his bliss, lying traitorous in his love that spilled from every breath he let out that dripped with a loyal  invulnerability that should never have existed. He felt safe in my presence, he'd fall asleep with me lay right next to him, he'd open himself to me like he had no caution for his own destruction. So naive, and so innocent.

I hated myself for what I would do to him. I should've resisted him further, and I knew that the version of me from years before would have. She had all her morals lined up, she wouldn't have forced her cruel intentions on this wholly innocent man. She remained as stubborn as she could be.

I let out a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding and I unclenched my tensed jaw, massaging my aching gums as I sat up swiftly. I fanned myself with my hand and sighed exhaustedly.

Sleep wouldn't find me tonight. Or rather I wouldn't find it. Tonight it mocked me and hid itself, far away from my pleading, sleep deprived vessel. It wouldn't grant me the luxury of a soundless slumber, one that would cleanse me temporarily of my waging inner turmoil.

I pulled the thin sheet off of me and slid out of bed, enjoying the pleasant sensation of my socked feet cooling down as they pressed against the chilled wood of the hard floor. The heat immediately felt slightly less stifling as I stood and walked away from the sleeping form in my bed.

I ran the faucet in the bathroom and splashed some pleasingly cool water over my face as I avoided my reflection in the mirror.

My appearance hadn't exactly changed all that much since the battle of New York, the only thing being that I let my blonde hair grow out way past my shoulders. But somehow I'd grown to despise the cruel body of my reflection in the mirror. It taunted me with the darkened bags under its eyes and the hopeless, lost glaze over its dulled irises. It looked so cold and empty I felt myself tormented by it every time I set my eyes on it.

So I just avoided it when I could, instead focusing on the deep marks in my palm when I'd wash my hands. I dried my face and hands and walked out, deciding I'd pay a visit to my cupboard of spirits in the hope they might grant me a sense of numbness if not the forgiving grasp of sleep.

The kitchen was mercifully cool as I stepped into it, gracing my bare thighs with its chilled air as I located the bottle of whiskey. There was a strange sort of calm that settled over me as I poured the contents into a cup with a glassy splash. The moon hung bright and half lit way above me, overbrimming it's washed out illumination and bathing the counter with a bluey gray glow through the window.

I found my quiet as I sipped slowly, relaxing carefully into the grasp of the silence that seemed much less demanding and corrupt with the shackles of ambient noises it was bound with; The constant hum of the fridge and the distant, subdued roar of a car that periodically ran down the road by my house.

I downed the rest of my glass, clenching my jaw harshly when I felt a sudden unease ripple through me. There was a change in the air and a forgotten jolt in my gut came back to strike me weakly as I carefully tried to discern what exactly was wrong.

"It's been some time." A slow, silky voice rang out through the air, clutching me in a paralysed embrace with its smooth, darkened tone as it echoed tauntingly off the walls. I was struck with an agonising familiarity as I stood there, hearing and feeling everything I'd purged my mind of in the last year. A wall of emotion crashed over my brain, stabbing my skull with each shard of pain as it scattered over me with an unforgiving persistence.

I knew that voice anywhere

I turned slowly, clenching my fist harshly and biting my cheek til I tasted blood. Not one word could describe the vast amount of emotion that channelled through me like electricity through a mains outlet. It gripped my every muscle and tore at my lungs until I couldn't summon a single breath. My chest only wound itself tighter once my eyes had landed on the one person who'd inhabited the forefront of my mind for as long as I could remember and I bit back a grimace at the sudden twist at my gut.

He had barely changed, looking identical to the last memory I had of him. Minus the muzzle, cuts and scrapes. His face was still the same marbled porcelain hue and his defined high cheekbones and razor sharp jaw still sculpted his structured face. His eyes seemed greener than I remembered and shone luminously in the dulled moonlight as they took me in eagerly and longingly like they were worried the sight of me would soon vanish into the air.

I locked my jaw closed, clenching my teeth together to the point of cracking as I kneaded my palm with my thumb, worrying that I might accidentally yell something crude before I could stop myself. My heart was pumping sporadically and an intense livid fire began to unfurl deep within me, growing wilder when a familiar heat settled in my lower abdomen; My body being traitorous to my mind as it reacted to the mere sight of him.

I watched him carefully as he swallowed forcibly, clearly biting back whatever it was he wanted to do or say to me. His eyes wandered helplessly over me, drinking me in like I was his first sight after being blinded from birth, scanning over my face and body like I was something to be marvelled at, a corrupt beauty.

I couldn't speak, I couldn't breathe, I could hardly think with the weight of everything that surrounded him crushing down upon me with naught but the forgiving darkness to offer little shielding.

I swallowed the sour tasting bundle of emotion and blinked once, drawing in a deep breath as much as I could with the iron corset he'd laced around my chest. I lightly flipped the glass in my hand and pulled my hand back, dragging with it the pain that was tunnelling through me, and I launched it at his head.

I saw it before it had even happened, a green glowing mist enveloping his body before disintegrating into nothing, causing the glass to fly straight through where his face had previously been and shatter against the floor.  I hadn't however prepared myself for the ear-splitting noise it made and I was unable to help the slight flinch that jolted my body as it rolled its echoing din around the room.

Loki's figure now stepped languidly out from behind the wall, walking closer until the island was the only thing seperating us. He looked amused but ever so slightly sorrowful as I allowed him to take full liberty of the sight of me, his eyes tracing over every curve of my skin with a crippling force behind them.

"I had a feeling you might do that."

I didn't respond, instead just watching him carefully, straightening my impassive mask over my skull as I drew the blinds of apathy over my gaze in attempt to conceal the pain his presence was causing me. His somber stare however, brimmed over with shimmering emotion and I resisted the urge to spit at him in disgust for making his feelings so painfully obvious... I refrained only because I quite liked my kitchen and it definitely didn't deserve to be spat on, even at the expense of such an ignorant bastard.

"You're not welcome here." I uttered quietly, cringing at the raspiness of my voice from its disuse in the past couple of hours and from the cracked tone beneath it. It was a simple statement but it bled cruelly with an emotion I resented to demonstrate for him and it only added to the thick tension that had become almost solid within the room, encasing our corrupt forms.

His eyes shone with a slight guilt for a moment but it soon dissipated as he hardened his face and looked away before resuming his stare with just as much, if not more, confidence than before.

He opened his mouth to speak when there was a distinct shuffle of footsteps and his head whipped to the side just in time to see someone shuffle into the kitchen.

Shit.

I watched him squinting through the darkness at me, blinking his sleepy eyelids to try and see what was going on, he was still shirtless and looked as though he hadn't even woken up at all.

"Ace? What's going on I heard a glass sma- oh..." he breathed quietly when he caught sight of the man opposite me glaring at him venomously. Loki's eyes glazed over with a white hot fury as he stared at him like he was about three seconds from death, a distinct look of distaste burning his gaze, but with a clear confusion underlying his expression.

I thought for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to tell Sebastian that this man was the crazed god that tried to take over Earth two years ago and also happened to have...relations...with me during the whole process. I quickly decided against it, worrying that Sebastians reaction would probably end with something I wasn't quite prepared for right now, being slightly tipsy and incredibly sleep deprived as I was.

"Seb, this is...a friend...from the school I went to in England. He's travelling at the moment but erm...lost his wallet and couldn't get back into his hotel. So he's...here...now I guess." I coughed out, not even having the energy to make my act believable as I fed him the lie.

Loki clearly snapped out of whatever he was thinking about as he glared at Sebastian and forced a pained grin onto his face, one that wouldn't have been reassuring to anyone in its sly mischievousness. Seb frowned for a second, processing it slowly in his head before he gave a little nod and shuffled closer, flipping the light on and flooding us all in the bright interrogating light that filled the room.

I winced harshly and bit my tongue, refraining from calling him a...word..

"Well, hello I guess." Seb laughed hesitantly, his voice croaky and slightly wary. He wasn't all that dumb. He'd picked up on the tension in here as soon as he stepped foot into the kitchen. He looked between both of us with an apprehensive glint in his eyes, clearly sensing the loathing that poured from me.

"Well there is a guest bedroom..." he began but I shot him a dangerous glare.

"He is not staying her-"

"I would love to stay in the guest bedroom." Loki crooned, his voice mocking as he cut me off, sending me a look that glimmered with a devilish amusement. I clenched my jaw forcibly and eased my tense muscles as I glared at the both of them.

"Fine." I muttered coolly.

"I'll show him to the room, Seb. You go back to bed." I ordered calmly, keeping my hardened stare fixated on the smirking god before me as I saw Seb reluctantly exit the room in my peripheral vision. I wasn't quite sure just how much he believed about what I'd told him but he knew better than to attempt to prod the truth out of me.

I held the intense glower for a moment as I stared at Loki with an agitated attempt at impassiveness, my body thrumming with high levels of fury for the first time in a long time. Once I'd heard the door to my bedroom close I started forward, rounding the corner as I neared him, his crazed, intense stare following me.

I stopped when I was directly in front of him and raised my eyes to his. I'd almost forgotten how tall he was. He towered over me effortlessly and stared down at me as I had to crane my neck to lock my eyes with his.

I swallowed the abuse that danced over my tongue in a sour tasting cluster, and broke my gaze, placing my hand on his arm as I teleported us to the guest room.

I let go as soon as we'd found our grounding and slid away, crossing my arms as I scanned the room. My heart was beating irregularly fast from his brief proximity. Even though my head was racing with anger towards him, my mind still flashed with images of the night me and Loki had spent together once I'd laid my eyes on the bed and I mentally scolded myself, hoping the flush I felt over my chest and neck wouldn't travel to my face.

Loki stalked the plain room, his eyes scanning every part of it as he walked over to the window. I guessed the room probably wasn't up to his godly standards but the next option for him was going to be sleeping in the garage.

"I see you've acquired yourself a mortal companion." His velvet voice cut through the air, wrapping dangerously around my throat as it reached over my ears. I took a deep breath that caught in my throat, and began kneading my scar again, trying to hold myself back from throwing something at his head.

"Shut the fuck up, downtown Abby." I muttered apathetically, seeing his smirk pull at the sides of his mouth as he turned to me again. I was wary of how he spoke of Sebastian,  his tone becoming sharpened and slightly mocking as he spoke of the 'mortal companion'. It gave the strangest feeling he might attempt to kill him or something like that.

"I prefer him alive, if you don't mind." I announced impassively as I burned my glare into him, seeing his smirk grow into an amused, devilish grin. He acknowledged my words and a mischievous glint crossed his eyes again, eliciting a strong jolt in my lower abdomen when I remembered how he'd looked at me like that before.

"I'll try to bear that in mind."

His gaze rolled back to the window for just a moment more before he started towards me, slowly stalking closer with a purposeful glimmer glazing his emerald hues. He wanted to say something but I was in no way prepared to listen. I stopped him in his tracks with a fiery glower and allowed a self satisfied smirk to kick up the side of my mouth.

"There's nothing I have to say to you." I muttered, and I watched his smirk deflate into a tight lipped sneer as an imperceivable emotion slashed through the light behind his iris'.

Without another word, I shut my eyes and teleported back into my bedroom, seeing Seb laid back in my bed and breathing deeply. He Seemed almost fast asleep.

I lay down across the sheets, shifting so I wasn't touching him as I attempted to clear my clustered mind.

Flashes of pure anger mixed with the agony of recollections from two years ago, my mind buzzing uncomfortably with the mismatch of heavy emotions. I cursed myself harshly, seeing visions of his capable hands grasping at my hips and his growl shuddering at the base of my neck as he claimed me, running through my mind.

A vivid image of his fiery, lust filled gaze invaded my brain. Flashing memories of how he clutched me possessively, passionately winding his mouth around mine in a desperate kiss. I flushed strongly, feeling slightly breathless as my mind wandered to the feeling of his adept fingers working skillfully between my legs as his tensed forearm pressed coolly against the heated flesh of my stomach.

"Bastard." I uttered under my breath, turning to the side with a stirring heat in my stomach as I tried to shut off my incessant thoughts. On top of everything, I noticed a slight tingling in the flesh of my palm, running over the deep scars and the skin around it. I studied my palm carefully, sneering in distaste at its prickly sensation.

Why couldn't he have just stayed dead?

~~~~~~~~~~~

LOKI'S POV

I shouldn't have been too surprised with her reaction. I wasn't in fact. She reacted one of the two ways I'd predicted. Either throwing something at my face or stabbing me multiple times. Hence the need for the illusion.

What I couldn't have expected however, was just how much I'd forgotten about the way I felt around her; Incredibly on edge and thrumming with an intense mismatch of strong emotional war. I'd forgotten just how much she entranced me, the hypnotic pull of her shameless troubled eyes and the alluring lilt of her soft voice that still laced itself with a bittersweet, warning tone.

On the other hand, everything else I remembered perfectly. I remembered the fragrant scent of her, a sweet lemon tinted with the warm undertones of freshly brewed coffee. I remembered her imperfect, masked facade of indifference that always seemed to crack upon the force of our tension. I remembered her guiltless smirk, the morbid darkness in the upturn of her lip when she pleaded apathy.

Most of all... I remembered her dark loathing, and the blackened embers that glowed with distaste behind her flashing olive hues whenever she set her persistent gaze upon me.

I should never have come here. I shouldn't have showed up after two years, especially now it was clear to me from her reaction that my moronic oaf of a brother had informed her of my untimely 'death' so to speak.

And of course she had moved forth. She had a mortal companion in fact, a ridiculous bumbling fool of one, but a companion no less. And that's how it should've stayed. I can't guarantee I'd never cross her mind, especially given the significant scar we both shared across our palms. But over time, her memory of me would've faded, she would've found better life with her ignorant mortal play thing. And I should've stayed in Asgard.

But of course that wasn't how it had gone at all. I was of selfish nature after all, and eventually, after I'd escaped the clutches of death and found solace as the rightful king of Asgard, I could no longer deny myself to see her once more. To be with her as my mind unhesitatingly played out in my head at least once every damned night.

I was still no more aware of the reason behind my invulnerable attraction to this mortal woman. Her beauty seemed to have developed deep within me on an immensely multidimensional level, striving far past just her impeccable form and natural allure. Her entire being enraptured me like nothing ever had before and I was helpless to it.

I didn't understand, I wasn't sure I ever would. But over the years I'd been away from her, my intense anger towards my incomprehensibility about this matter had deadened dramatically. I'd become more accepting of my misconception of the fatal attraction. I knew that I was captivated by her, and that was all I needed to know, whether it bring my mind peace or not.

I'd briefly weighed over the fact that I was unaware of whether I could ever hold affection for her that could take the form of love. Only time could tell, and I refused to agonise over my reluctance to the scarring emotion. Especially since I knew she held the same distaste for it.

The only thing I could be bothered about was that I had seen her again, I'd stared into her enthralling gaze once more. That I had heard her melodic voice wind comfortably over my throat in a seductive murderous, hold. And that I was able to show her that I still lived and breathed. That I was in fact... not dead.

I stared out of the full length window that looked out over a forest and partially a small cluster of houses and clenched my fist carefully. I was battling a persistent demon that sat around my shoulders and it took the form of that pathetic mortal whom I'd set my eyes on earlier in the kitchen.

I wanted to see him dead, in fact I wanted to be the one to render him lifeless by my own hands. He'd probably already be dead right now if it weren't for my confusion up front before I'd realised of his relationship with her. Had I have connected the dots any sooner he would be a demised body, lay across her stone floor.

The only thing that held me back was the gracing calm that flooded her gaze when she saw him. To my slight peace of mind, I hadn't seen any affection linger in her shimmering eyes but the way she observed him was not a look of distaste. And so I resented to murder him, knowing it would not aid me in the slightest for trying to get her to be less enraged by my mere presence.

I longed to hold her again. I wanted to feel the ridges of her scar and press my buzzing palm to hers again, to feel the leap of power that tended to flash down my arm upon contact. I yearned to feel her pressed against me, whether it be in claiming her with my body or whether it be in holding her through the night until the weakened tips of the early sun rays grazed the sheets lay across us.

As I'd studied her before with my eager eyes, I was unable to help the guiltless desire that wound it's way through me when I saw her. Despite everything that happened upon my greeting I couldn't help but wander my eyes over every defined curve and softened flesh of her alluring figure. Her short satin night dress hung loosely about her, sending the illogical part of my brain mad with lust and desire as it barely grazed the tops of her smooth thighs.

I wanted her in my grasp again, I wanted to feel her writhe under me and clutch painfully at my forearms as I took her slowly, passionately. I wanted to hear her shortened, panting breaths in my ears again and I would do anything to make it happen.

She would be mine again. I would make sure of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He bacc  :•

I mean we all been knew. He was obviously gonna make an appearance cuz that lil shit thrives off the drama tho.

What are your thoughts on this chapter? Do you think Ace's reaction was fair or hella eXtRa? Lemme know what ya feel.

Sorry this chapter was kind of short, I think next chapter should have at least 1000 more words or so but I wanted to write about only Ace and Loki's reaction to the reunion with not as much plot.

Next chapter tho lads

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING UR ALL AMAZING ❤️

Also thanks to the legit best person ever
bookydreams  (check out her Loki fic it's the bomb)