By the Side of the Road [A LOKI FANFIC]

Jellyfish Sunrise

In which Loki is a gentleman, and then a sort of kidnapper, and Kenna does not appreciate the latter. Oh, and my plot is only slightly more coherent than my A/N.

AN: So. I just subscribed to Barbie on Youtube. God knows why. Johann Schmidt and Elrond are the same fucking person!

'Loki,' Kenna says, looking at him curiously, 'You're really scary when you're angry, y'know.'

'I do now,' Loki replies, smiling calmly.

He walks over to where Kenna is, offering her a hand up.

'Thanks.'

'My pleasure,' Loki says, quickly folding the blanket, and making his way to the car.

'Are we going now?' Kenna asks, rubbing her eyes.

'Yes. It's getting dark.'

'But I don't want to go!' she whines, stopping and crossing her arms, 'I refuse to go to the car.'

Loki smirks at her, and then walks on, leaving Kenna alone. She waits there for a few seconds, uncertain.

He wouldn't leave without her, would he?

He comes back, arms empty, still smirking mischievously. Kenna's not sure if she should be worried about this. He steps forward, and, without any prior warning, bends down, and scoops her up. She squeaks in shock, but Loki simply chuckles, and carries her off to the car. Kenna squirms frantically in his arms, trying to get free, and repeatedly hits him, trying to make him let her go.

'What are you doing?'

'Taking you to the car,' he replies, walking as if she weighs nothing at all. And she's sure she does.

'What! You can't do that! Put me down, Loki!'

'Not happening. We're going home.'

Loki!' she screeches, 'I'm sure this is a violation of my human rights!'

'I doubt it,' he says, and, transfers her into one arm, opening the door with his free hand, and dropping her in.

'I'm not going to forgive you for this until we get home,' she snaps, glowering at him.

'That's a sacrifice I'm going to have to make,' he says, still smirking.

'Stop smirking, Loki. Manhandling me is nothing to be proud of!'

'Actually-' he starts, but is cut off by Kenna slapping him upside the head.

The ride home takes, at the most, five minutes, which is spent with Kenna glaring at Loki, in complete silence. Kenna strides into the apartment, dropping onto the sofa in a huff. She then announces that she's going to watch all of her favourite movies, and that he has no say in them whatsoever. Loki decides that he can live with that, sitting next to her, whilst she fiddles with the remote. The first thing they watch is Inception, followed by all of the Harry Potters, at which point Kenna begins to yawn. After that, they watch the all of the Men in Blacks, and at the last one, the third, Loki thinks, she cries on his shoulder. After that, she's incredibly teary, and as soon as they watch The Rise of The Planet of The Apes, she weeps uncontrollably, siding with the animals, and wiping the tears from her face. She's still crying ten minutes after it ends, and Loki sighs, and resign himself to her sobbing all over him, and using him as one massive tissue.

'Why are these your favourites if they make you cry so much?'

'Because they're good films,' she chokes out, between sobs.

When, eventually, Loki gets her to calm down, she snuggles up to him, using his chest as a pillow, and promptly falls asleep, cheeks still damp. Loki smiles, and settles down, preparing himself for an uncomfortable night on the sofa.

And uncomfortable it is.

The curtains to the alcove are open, and he wakes up just in time to see the sun rise, illuminating the jellyfish. It is truly beautiful.

'Kenna,' he says, 'Look at this.'

'Nyarghhh!' she complains, head-butting him whilst trying to shield her face from the light.

'If you don't look,' Loki threatens, 'You'll regret it.'

'What're you gonna do?' she mumbles, and Loki can feel her lips moving against his t-shirt, 'Tickle me? Actually, don't you dare.'

'Dare what?' Loki asks, and then assaults her with his fingers.

Well, that's how Kenna puts it.

'Stop!' she pants, squirming helpless on the floor, 'Leave me alone!'

'Then look,' he insists, and, dutifully, Kenna does so.

'I'm going to have to paint that, someday,' she says, wholly enthralled by the natural lightshow.

'What time is it?'

'5:43,' Loki says, and Kenna yawns, jumping back onto the sofa, and curling up to Loki again.

He shakes his head, pushing her off, and stretching slowly. Kenna tries not to wince at the cracking sound his back makes, and instead pouts, pretending to be hurt by his casual dismissal. He laughs, and walks off, past the kitchen, stretching as he goes, so the hem of his t-shirt rides up a bit. Kenna tries not to stare. About twelve minutes later, he emerges, towel wrapped around his waist, dark hair damp, and, most shocking, topless. Kenna really tries not to stare. Or drool. It's kind of hard.

'Put your clothes on, Loki, you're traumatising the cats.'

He glares at her, before retrieving something from the kitchen, and returning to the bathroom. When he comes out again, a few minutes on, Kenna's not sure if she's glad that he's dressed, or if it's disappointment she feels. She refuses to give herself time to think about it. Loki looks at her appraisingly, and she blinks, confused as to why he's staring at her like that.

'What?' she half asks, half protests.

'You're just strange, that's all.'

'Is that a compliment?'

'Possibly.'

'Good enough,' she says, getting up, and then bending over, and quickly scratching Simba behind his ears. Absinthe and Seraphine are still asleep, curled up in a space near where Kenna was, and Kenna values her life enough to not risk waking them up. She then has a quick shower, emerging fresh, and clean, and fully awake.

'Morning, Loki,' she says, sitting on the kitchen counter.

'You've been awake for one and a half hours, and you say morning now?'

'Yep.'

 Kenna decides to walk to work, as she's really early. In fact, she's the second person into the building.

After Samantha.

Who, apparently, works there now.

A/N2: Okay, as a test of my willpower, I'm going to make myself like bananas. Wish me luck. *A few seconds later* Ugh! I can't even get the damn wrapper thing off.