Author's Note: Apologies for a longer delay than you dear people have grown accustomed to. It is a life of luxury you lead with summer two day updates, as compared to when it took me at least six days to update. I do apologize again. I've been struggling with my muse...and that is, I mean, I don't have one. I've been feeling a little laboured writing the story lately, and I don't know why. Hmph. :( So, to temporarily lighten things up, I bring you, a party in true Stark style. Also, a very lengthy chapter. I just couldn't decide how the hell to break it up. Song mentioned in the story is in the sidebar (EDIT: It won't let me add it right now, I will if I can get it to cooperate!). As always, don't forget to comment and vote and share your thoughts with me!

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I stumble out of my room at nine in the morning, on the dot, not entirely sure what day it is or where I am…

“How’s our hungover little butterfly?” I hear Tony ask loudly from down the hall. I groan and rub the sleep from my eyes.

“I’m not hungover!” I argue, but still my head rings. Wow, really glad this immortality thing is so fucking useful. Suddenly I feel cool arms wrap around my waist and Loki presses his lips to the back of my head.

“I’ve been informed you had quite the night drinking with Stark, though surely not as memorable as the night we indulged together,” Loki snickers in my ear. I turn around in his hold and glare up at him and he runs his thumb across my cheek and kisses my nose lightly.

“I’m just going to let that go,” I mutter with a roll of my eyes. “Consider yourself lucky.”

He kisses me with a little more vigor than usual and I smile against his lips as they part mine. He doesn’t often kiss me like this…in fact, up until last night he didn’t kiss me very often at all. Sure, he’ll kiss my forehead or my cheek or my nose, but the rare and true kisses are a blessing. And now that they’re increasing in frequency, and that he’ll kiss me in public…I am feeling better about this strange relationship every day. He backs me up into the wall and he grasps my face as he continues to kiss me, one hand dropping down to my waist and running up the back of my shirt. His hand is wonderfully cool against my bed-warmed skin.

“Mmm,” I literally moan out loud and while I am embarrassed beyond belief, Loki doesn’t even pause to give it a thought.

Everything is going well until I hear, “Will someone tear these two apart, what is this kissing all about, I run a scientifically advanced industry, not a brothel!” Tony sings down the hallway.

I yank my face away from Loki, banging my head against the wall, embarrassed that Tony saw me sucking face…with an intergalactic space villain…Damn. I need to sort out my life, don’t I? Loki seems unphased, bringing our lips together again, biting down lightly on my lower lip which nearly drives me insane, but I shake my head.

I push against Loki’s chest, “Did you just bastardize Les Mis to make fun of me? Oh Tony, I’m flattered.” He rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. Tony and Loki exchange a cold glance and I rock onto my toes and then back again.

“Sooo,” I venture, “what is the plan from here forward?”

“We go back to Asgard,” Loki says with his arm slung across my shoulders suddenly.

Tony frowns, “Oh but we were just starting to have fun!”

“Why do we have to go back now? We’ve only just come to Earth,” I argue with the hope that maybe we can scrounge up a few more hours. There is something I desperately want to show Loki.

“It is not my pronouncement, but merely my regurgitation of Odin’s decree,” Loki sighs emptily.

I reach down and lace my fingers through his and he looks at me. “Please, Loki?”

“I wish I could.”

 “When have to ever submitted so easily to Odin’s whims before?” I question, pulling away and mimicking Tony’s posture unconsciously. That puts the two of us on the defensive, Loki still trying to hold back. He bites down on his lower lip, deep in thought. I take hold of his sleeve and pull him down ever so slightly so that I can whisper in his ear. “I promise to make it worth your while, my prince.”

Loki’s eyes widen and he straightens up suddenly, looking at me in disbelief. Then a slow smile spreads across his face. “You know, I've never really been in the habit of giving the rules much credence.”

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I push my way through the crowd of hot and sweaty people, all dancing in time to the music. Except that one guy. He has no rhythm. Stark Tower is filled with people, half of whom I’m certain have no idea whose party they’re even at. I roll up onto my toes, looking around for Loki. I mean, I can see over most of the people here easy…but there’s just so many of them. No Loki sighting, however. I feel a hand on my waist and I turn around, but it isn’t Loki.

“Banner!” I cheer, throwing my arms around him. “Just the man I want to see!”

“What?” he scrunches his face, trying to hear me over the noise.

I yell, “Just the man I want to see!”

“Oh!”

“Yeah! I want to say thank you for all the science-y things you did to help find me! Tony tried to explain it all to me, but I mean, English and History is more my area of expertise!”

“It was no trouble, trust me.” He smiles and I smile back at him. He extends his hand, offering me a dance and I gladly oblige, laughing to watch him twist and throw his body around haphazardly, seeming so happy and carefree. It is a marvel to me how a man like Banner has a monster just wrapped up inside him, waiting to strike. And then I realize how familiar it sounds….

Bruce leans in so that I can hear him, “I think someone is looking for you.” He points over my shoulder and I turn around to see Loki making his way through the crowd, looking down upon the people all pressed close together. He looks stunning—his dark hair pushed back, green eyes glinting in the low light. He has pushed up the sleeves of the green smoking jacket lent to him by Tony, and unbuttoned it so that it hangs loose against his lean frame. He notices me and comes towards me, and I note the lingering stares he receives from many in the crowd. I smile at him and he smirks back, taking me by the arm.

“You’re a hard woman to find, my love,” Loki murmurs in my ear and I hear him perfectly. His lips tickle my ear and I shudder, laughing. “Come.”

Loki leads me through the crowd and we get stuck in the middle of the floor. The music screeches to a halt before I hear a very particular, albeit slurred, voice. “This one goes out to my favorite couple in the whole wide world…universe?...the whole Nine Realms!”

I glare at him from across the room as he drops the needle onto a new album and he smirks at me, giving me the guns. Loki looks down at me as the music begins and I note all the couples pressing against each other quickly as the first few strains of distinctly slow song begin to play. I furrow my brow and wait for the lyrics, Loki holding my hand.

“Would you care to share a dance with me?” Loki asks with a demure smile.

I smile, “You know how this ended last time? On the floor!” Loki laughs but still takes me and pulls me closer to his chest, swaying to the music. I rest my head against his chest and feel his heart thrumming evenly.

But I'm bluer than blue
Sadder than sad
You're the only light
This empty room has ever had
Life without you is gonna be
Bluer than blue

I lift my head up and look at Loki who is frowning and then I look past him to see Tony laughing his ass off. “Really, Tony?!” I yell at him, but he only laughs harder when I scowl at him. I feel the feeling I haven’t felt in a while, the icy cold tingling that starts in my fingertips. In the blink of an eye I have darted through the crowd and sidled up next to Tony.

“Hilarious,” I whisper in his ear and he jumps, not having noticed me.

“Holy shit, kiddo!” And then I watch as his gaze travels down my body and his eyes widen. “Well, I’ll be damned.” I look down and realize that I have allowed my entire body to turn stark blue. I sigh but Tony smiles at me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…you know, if it’s any consolation, you look hot in blue.”

“Doesn’t she just,” Loki says from behind me. I roll my eyes and laugh lightly, feeling tired by the endless party. What time is it? I know Loki and I are wearing out our stay, and I am surprised Thor hasn’t come crashing down from Asgard to collect us. In comparison, Earth, New York, feels so simple. So…welcoming and friendly. For no particular reason I throw my arms around Tony and hold him tightly, squeezing him in an iron embrace. I feel his arms fold back around me in return and I press my cheek into his hair.

“I wish I could stay here with you…and the Avengers. Maybe I could make myself useful. I always thought I’d make a good secretary or—”

I am interrupted by a sudden loud bang and the sound of commotion. Tony and I both turn around and I am surprised to see the crowd parted around Thor, fist to the ground, crouched, eyes locked on me. I raise my hand to wave to him, but Loki spins me around, eyes wide. “What was it you wanted to show me?”

I look at him curiously, “My home. Why?”

Loki grins, “I don’t think we’re quite done on Earth yet, do you?”

I smirk, and I know I shouldn’t be going along with his mischief, but I can’t resist just the chance for a few more minutes. A little while longer won’t hurt anyone. Loki lowers his head and presses his forehead to mine. “Picture it,” he orders and I close my eyes, envisioning my home. The home I spent my truly formative years in. I feel the sensation I shouldn’t be so familiar with, and when my stomach feels as though it is done flipping upside down I will myself to pry my eyes open. We are standing in the middle of my kitchen and I am reminded of many years of fond memories.

Memories that I suppose, in retrospect, should not have been so wonderful. Arguing with my parents over whether or not I was actually out past curfew, or why I wasn’t allowed to date a certain boy…I lean against the counter and breathe in the familiar woody scent of the cabinets that my father made from hand. I can picture him sitting at the counter, pouring over bills, his reading glasses low on the bridge of his nose.

“Val, you know as well as I that that young man is no good. I promise, one day there will be a perfect man for you, and perhaps you will just have to wait until you find him,” my father commented offhandedly as my mother and I argued. I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted at him.

“But he is perfect!”

“By Odin, child! You are too young to be dating,” my mother said. I groaned and stamped my feet and my mother took me by the shoulders. “The right man will come along, even if at first he does not appear to be the right one. I promise you that much.”

I tilt my head back and look up towards the ceiling, quelling the tears before they even start. Loki’s voice is gentle. “Are you alright?”

I nod once. “Fine. I’m…fine.” And then it occurs to me that what my mother said was more stunningly accurate than she could know. I laugh out loud, and then cup my hand over my mouth, laughing despite myself. “My mother once said to me that the right man would come along in my life, even if he didn’t seem like it at first.”

A smile creeps to Loki’s lips and he just sort of appraises me with kind eyes, letting me be.

“Can you imagine knowing we would be here all the way back when we first met? I wonder how differently things would have been…”

“You likely would have had enough sense to stay away from me,” Loki teases, laying a kiss on the back of my hand.

“Mmm, shame I never seem to learn!” I poke him in the ribs and he doesn’t even flinch, looking at me stoically. “Oh come on, I want to show you my house!”

I pull him around and show him the rooms of the downstairs first, regaling him the story of my first Christmas whilst in the living room which ends in him grimacing at my graphic description of vomiting into my brand new stocking. He makes a point of degrading the whole institution of Christmas and then I wander off while he is still rambling, heading upstairs, knowing that he will soon follow. I sit myself down on my bed and lay back, throwing my arms above my head. It only takes a moment before Loki is leaning up against my bed frame. I roll my head to the side and just take in the very image of him, looking oddly human for once. I don’t often take the time to appreciate just how beautiful every part of him is, inside and out, and when I do, I often think of his ethereal qualities. But standing next to my bed, cast in shadows and looking terribly peaceful, Loki looks happy and human.

“What?” He asks, breaking his stoicism. “Why are you gazing at me in such a fashion?”

“Because,” I simply state, forcing myself to sit up. He smiles a closed-mouth smile and then practically lunges at me, pushing me back down on the bed, devouring my mouth before I know how to react. I don’t even mind that my teeth banged against my lip, making it sore, or that I practically jammed my finger against his shoulder blade. All I care about is Loki kissing me roughly, pulling at my lips, nibbling my neck, fingers woven tightly into my hair. I grip the blanket beneath me in tight fists before I let myself go, fingers dragging across his back, pulling his shirt up over his head and disposing of it on the floor beside my bed. His skin is warm against mine and my fingers trail across his chest and I look down to see the distinctly red finger marks trailed across his milky skin. He winks at me and the marks fade into blue. I press my hand, palm first, against his collar bone and it turns blue beneath my touch. I wrinkle my nose at him and laugh, throwing my head back, which prompts him to return to suckling against my neck. His fingers press into the flesh of my hips as he brings me onto his lap and I cling tightly to his bare chest. He stops suddenly and just looks at me—stares directly into my eyes with his radiant, malachite eyes. I can practically hear his heart pounding rapidly, out of sync with the giddy thrumming of my own.

“I have been thinking on something for a long time now,” Loki says quietly, “something that should have been obvious to me from the derivation of the feeling.”

“Okay…?”

He smiles faintly, “I was listening to my heart, as any man foolish enough to love is wont to do, and I realized then that the mind knows only what lies near the heart. And the more I listened, the more I thought logically, the more I realized that I am irrefutably in love with you, Valkyrie. Of course, I do not always show it in the proper way, nor do I quite know how to express my feelings towards you. Simply enough, I adore you, I cherish you, and I love you despite all the reasons it is foolish for me to do so.”

I notice his hands have been constantly moving and I look down to see him fiddling with something between his fingers, the way I have seen him do identically twice before. The first time was the morning after I fell from the library balcony, and the second was not all that long ago either, when Loki and Thor rescued me. I can still see him perched on my bed as I stole a glance before going off to bathe. In his hands, unmistakably is a thin silver chain, and pinched between his fingers is a ring. I stare at the two objects, my brain not quite sure how to process or even what it actually means.

“This chain I intended to give you as a present shortly after you released me from my imprisonment and sought to help me, unworthy as I was. But I could never quite find the right time, and I missed every opportune moment. So I held onto it, hoping I would find the right time.” He pauses and presses the coiled chain into my hand and I realize that there are interlocking loops of gold and silver and it’s actually rather stunning.

He raises the ring between us, to eye level. “This…this is something I have been struggling to find the courage to present to you, knowing full well that you may turn me down and with many good reasons. I made it myself, intending to give it to you when you survived Thanos, believing it to be the sign that I was waiting for. You needed me more than ever and I wanted to protect you in the best way I knew how. But I realize now, you do not need me nearly as much as I need you. You keep me sane and humane and smart and always on my toes. You are braver than I have ever been. And to remember that, I had this ring forged by the dwarves, who are not overly fond of me, and embedded with a pure emerald from your own Midgard, and accented with a part of the obsidian arrow you plucked from your shoulder.”

I just stare at it, uncertain of what to say. Or really, how to even breathe properly. I can feel my hands trembling slightly and I smile at the thought that for once it is out of happiness and shock and nerves, and not because I may be slowly bleeding out. I bite down on the inside of my cheek as Loki takes the silver chain and puts it through the ring, holding it out before me.

“Now, I have a question, and a promise to make you. I promise we do not have to follow through with this any time soon, for we have a very long time together, but I do promise that I will forever love and respect you and I will wait as long as you so desire,” Loki says seriously. He takes a deep breath, looking away before he looks me in the eye.

“Valkyrie Sutton, daughter of Jotunheim and daughter of Asgard, will you honor me with your hand in m—”

And then Thor comes crashing and tumbling through the ceiling of my bedroom. Literally.