Enamoured with a Mortal

Chapter One

Midgardian autumn was my favourite season on this planet. I wanted to pretend it was due to the way the trees set themselves ablaze before the leaves fell from their branches, lining the ground in a sea of yellow and orange. It wasn't. It was because it reminded me of the first time I met her. A year ago I was forced to see the season change from inside the compound, only catching glimpses of the outside from the training room windows. I didn't feel the incoming cold air suddenly change on my skin. I couldn't experience the way the leaves would sound underneath my shoe. All I experienced back then were the fleeting moments I could see the way the scenery changed from the brief time I was allowed outside of my cell. Though it was unlikely I would have ever appreciated it back then. Not only did I not care about the season, I despised Midgard. Its beauty could never compare to Asgard, and I still stood by that statement, however I didn't even care for the planet back then. All I wanted was for a way to get off of this rock and reclaim the throne of Asgard. Even if it didn't provide me with relief. Even if it wasn't all I wished it would be. It was the only thing I still wanted. In so little time so much had changed. A year never meant much to me, but I was beginning to see why for mortals it felt like so much time. Time felt so different on Midgard. Maybe I was just spending too much time with mortals.

It was peculiar being able to experience the way the season changed. The environment shifted slowly and yet encroached on me far too quickly at the same time. The air slowly shifted each day, the wind becoming stronger slowly over time. At the same time, one day some of the bushes around the compound had grown blackberries. Slow and yet sudden. On the days the season changes had snuck up on me I would wonder how she would react. Whether she would wish to pick the blackberries, if she'd wish to experiment with making tea again or if she'd use them to make desert. Yet another thing about her I failed to fully appreciate at the time. At some point she began baking more. Every so often creating a new desert for us to try together. I never asked why. I wondered if it was because of me. If she noticed that out of all of the cuisine on Midgard the sweetest food were the ones I cared for the most. If that's why she became invested in trying to bake different desserts. I gathered the blackberries for her just in case she would have wanted to. At the time I told myself that we would be able to use them. Instead they rotted in the fridge only to be cleaned out by someone. Those days I tried not to dwell on my emotions. If I let my mind run away with such thoughts it would render me useless for far too long. Like the day I wondered if she would curl up to me for warmth on a cold autumn day. Or when I realised we had reached the year anniversary of our meeting.

It was best not to think about her for too long. Not in that way. Instead I just put all of those emotions into finding her, spending every waking moment trying to track her. Though on many days that didn't help either. Whenever we hit a dead end, whenever a promising lead went nowhere, or the days where there was nowhere to even look, all I could focus on was the fact that we should have been travelling the universe together. That every single day I failed to find her was another day over the timeframe I had promised to her.

"Loki." Another thing time had changed. The relationship with my brother had grown stronger, and yet I'd managed to despise talking with him more than before. Perhaps it was because of their current lack of frequency, or because every time it ended poorly. He always said the same thing, just in different words. It didn't matter that it came from a place of care, or that he held good intentions, each time it enraged me. It was likely the tone of pity that always seemed to run through his words.

"Don't waste your breath, Thor." I didn't look as he took a seat on the bench next to me, placing Mjølnir on the ground between his feet. Instead I kept my eyes on the trees. I watched as the wind caused the leaves to fall onto the ground far beneath the branches. I didn't let myself wonder if she would be here to see them grow again in spring. I couldn't.