Muffins - Loki & Ylva alternate universe stories

Cat sitting - bonus

You would be amazed by how many long haired men there are in New York. And how many of them have dark hair. Ylva has seen them all by now, she must have. The women too, by the way. There are quite a few tall women out there, with long dark hair that ripples over their shoulders. Every time the bell above the door of the coffee shop tingles Ylva looks up, her stomach making a weird flip when the customer in question has long dark hair. And every time that weird flip turns into a clumsy tumble, as her stomach sinks a little when she sees that the person in question is in fact not her feline house guest.

It's been a week now. A week since Thor came to pick up his empty pet crate, a stupid, sheepish grin on his face. Their talk was short and awkward, the Avenger looked like he didn't know what to do with the whole situation. Like Ylva knew!
He did apologize for the inconvenience, as if waking up to a naked man in her bedroom was something that mildly interrupted her daily schedule, like getting stuck in traffic or getting the wrong dress back from the dry cleaners. Thor had shortly explained that his brother had special powers, one of which gave him the ability to change his appearance to that of another human or - like he had done before he came into Ylva's life - to that of an animal. Like his brother, Thor didn't want to go into detail as to why Loki had been stuck inside the form of a cat. Ylva had drawn her own conclusions, figuring it would probably be something embarrassing; if Loki was anything like his cat persona, he was proud. And vain, that too. The cat had spent a great amount of time in the windowsill, admiring not only the view of the city, but also his own reflection.

Thor had also thanked her, partly in name of his brother, for the good care she had given the cat. "Loki told me you were an excellent host and company."

"He was good company too," Ylva had answered automatically, still dumbfounded by the fact that the cat she had gotten attached to so quickly was actually a man.

That first day she had not really known how to feel. Confused by everything that had happened. Angry that Thor had not told her the cat was in fact... not a cat. Sad that the cat was gone now. Every emotion from the book came by, taking turns to affect her mood. It was a good thing she didn't have to work that first day, because she probably would have burst to tears at some point. Better to do that in the safety of her own bedroom than in the middle of the coffee shop. She didn't cry anymore after that first day, but she still didn't know what she exactly felt about the whole thing. To be honest, a week later she still felt as emotionally unstable as the first day.

Obviously there was no way she was going back to sleep after Loki had climbed out of her window! She had even jumped out of bed after a few shell shocked minutes, to see if she could spot the former cat in his long leather coat somewhere on the streets. Though of course there was no sign of him; it made her think she had dreamed the whole thing. Not finding Lokitty anywhere proved that theory wrong, unless the cat had finally found the urge to go explore New York City and had taken off on its own.

Lisa didn't believe her when Ylva told her that the black cat turned out to be a handsome man, who left the apartment by climbing down the fire escape. Her exact words were: 'Maybe you're not so much a crazy cat lady, but just a crazy lady'. Lisa must have realised how harsh her words sounded, because she had hugged Ylva, telling her it must have been some weird dream and that the black hellcat was probably hiding underneath the couch or something. Then she had left for the early shift at the coffee shop downstairs, leaving Ylva to stew in her own messed up thoughts.

It was comforting that Thor confirmed the story, telling her that Loki had shown up in his usual form at Stark Tower early that morning. Though after Thor had gone home again, after fifteen awkward minutes at most, the events of that early morning had looked like a dream again.

Long story short: she needed to see Loki again. For one: to prove she wasn't crazy. That she hadn't made the whole thing up, that it wasn't some sort of crazy dream. Loki had said she would see him again soon, why would he have said that if he disappeared into nothing right after? Thor had been to the coffee shop two days ago for a coffee order to go - along with two blueberry muffins - and when asked he told her he had not heard of his brother since. And two: she missed the cat. It had only been a week, yet the apartment felt empty without the presence of the black feline.