Six is Plenty Stucky/LokixThor/Marvel

Chapter 1: Thor

"There is a difference between happiness and mania Thor," the therapist said, from inside his little zoom video box.

Thor was sitting at the kitchen table in the American apartment he was renting, staring at his laptop screen. He'd taken over supervision of the American office of his family's company two months ago and he'd rented this apartment a little over a month ago, right around the time he reconnected with some of his old friends and met his new friend Loki.

He'd been back and forth between America and Norway only once in the past three weeks as he finalized things in the Norway and France office. He was moving to being part time at both of those offices and there were just a few things left for him to finish this next week.

He hadn't been able to make time to see any of his friends, including his new friend Loki during the past three weeks and this time was proving to be no different. He was only here for the rest of today, but he was hoping to be back in a week or so to start doing actual work.

It was Sunday afternoon and he was rather worn out. He'd spent the morning and early afternoon at a work lunch trying to win yet another contract for the American office. He had sealed the deal and felt like he was walking on sunshine when he got back to his apartment and saw a string of funny texts from Loki.

They'd been texting pretty regularly for the past month, nothing too serious, just updating each other on their days and sharing funny anecdotes. They'd talked on the phone twice and it had felt cozy and familiar, as if they'd been doing this for years not weeks.

Unfortunately, Thor had a pre-scheduled virtual appointment with his therapist scheduled for today and that pulled him right out of his happy high. Or rather, it forced him to examine his happy high and now here he was, toes tapping anxiously on the floor and fingers drumming on the table.

"You sound happy, Thor. I don't think this is a manic episode. I think it might just be genuine excitement about the possibility that Loki offers, but also the possibility that he represents. That maybe there really is someone or multiple someones out there for you who will treat you better and make you happier than Leif."

"But I'm having a lot of symptoms. I'm not sleeping as much as I usually do, maybe six hours instead of the usual ten to twelve. I'm not eating as much, I- well I'm actually not having a lot of sex but I want to be having a lot of sex. Specifically with one person which also doesn't seem normal for me. And I can't think about anything but him. I'm easily distracted at work, and I'm afraid I'm going to do something rash like...like show up at his house with flowers or something."

His therapist stared into the laptop camera for several moments, unblinking. Thor had to look away. He hated that he still had trouble opening up in therapy. It had been almost five months and he thought he would have been better at it by now.

"Thor, have you considered that maybe you are just infatuated with Loki? There is something called limerence which is a state of deep infatuation with another person that can sometimes involve intrusive thoughts and a consuming passion which can lead to lack of sleep and big romantic gestures?"

He'd heard of limerence before and it didn't have good connotations in his mind. "But isn't that like...when a creepy lad is obsessed with a girl who has no interest in him? Like a stalker? Are you saying I'm a stalker? I swear I've only seen Loki twice-"

"No no, it's not necessarily like that. Happy couples can fall into limerence, typically if there is trauma involved in either of their past love lives, but even that isn't always the case. It's a form of engagement that causes dopamine highs, while true feelings of love elicit a serotonin release. It's why people in limerence often experience a rollercoaster of emotions as it relates to their love object, because the dopamine wears off and they have to constantly look for their next hit."