The Misadventures of Loki and Strange

Chapter 8

It was an agonising wait for the two in the closet, watching the group move slower than snails to get to their side of the hall, inspect the portrait opposite to the one that had just birthed a spirit which happened to be right beside where they were hiding and to finally turn around and step away far enough so that Loki and Strange could slip out undetected.

Strange could feel Loki bristling beside him, getting impatient as the tour group took their sweet time. At one point he fully believed that the God was ready to just spring out and make up some elaborate story as to why they were in the closet, a situation he wanted to avoid for the sake of his leftover sanity.

Anytime he could disassociate himself with Loki was a plus in his mind.

Once they were far enough away, Loki forced the door open with a flair of relief and stepped out into the corridor, straightening his shirt as Strange wandered out behind him, closing the doors and taking a few strides to join the back of the group as if he had never left.

Loki trailed behind a little slower, his eyes going to the portrait that the overheard conversation had come from.

Strange glanced over, noting Loki's narrowed eyes and look of concentration, and wondered what the other man was thinking.

Once done with his mini-inspection, Loki joined the group as Davis was spouting some other tale to add atmosphere to the house.

"Did something catch your eye?" Strange whispered, casting a quick glance his way.

"Perhaps," Loki replied, his eyes trained ahead of him. "The top right corner of the portrait, there's something underneath it."

"Is that so? I guess someone will have to take a look."

"Indeed," Loki nodded, his tongue flickering out briefly to run across his bottom lip, "and someone will have to act as a distraction."

His lips pulled into a smirk and Strange couldn't help the little chuckle that left him at the twinkle that shone in Loki's eye.

"I take it you've taken that role."

"It just fits me so well that it would be criminal if I didn't."

"Of course it would be," Strange glanced at Loki, who looked like he was concocting the most delicious of devious schemes. "Do you have a plan already?"

"I'm working on it."

"Then you might want to hurry it up before I lose my chance."

"You won't lose your change, trust me."

Strange gave Loki a pointed look, his eyebrows raising and his head tilting ever so slightly.

"I'm not stupid enough to do that yet."

"Yet?" Loki looked back at him, smiling widely, "my, our relationship has progressed."

"Are you two quite done?"

They turned to look at Carmen, whose perfectly plucked eyebrows were furrowed as she stared them down with her hands splayed on her hips like a mother telling off her children.

"No," Loki grinned cattishly, "but you may continue anyway."

She rolled her eyes and turned away from them with a sneer, concentrating on the room to the group's right to try and stem down the urge to murder him.

"This is the nursery, the room the spirit talked about," she said, turning on her spooky story narrator voice.

"We must brace ourselves," Davis continued, failing to hide a grin, "who knows what we will find in there."

Loki rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"I'm willing to bet it will be a ghost."

Strange pursed his lips together and glanced down, trying to stifle a chuckle that wanted to bubble up. For once he was willing to accept that perhaps Loki could be humorous, if only for a flickering minute.

Some of the group also appeared to hear his stage-whispered response as they sniggered and tittered amongst themselves, a few throwing a look their way over their shoulders.

Davis either didn't hear Loki or chose to ignore him as he nodded to Carmen, who took her cue and opened the door in a way that was too slow to be dramatic or convincing.

"When we step in here, we must be respectful if we don't wish to anger the spirits."

Carmen was the first to step inside, followed by Davis and a hesitant group of suckers.

"Okay," Loki said stepping forward, half turning to Strange, "I'll go inside and distract them while you go and look at the portrait."

"Sounds easy enough."

"Doesn't it? Just be quick about it, I'll try to hold them off as long as I can but I can't make any promises."

"A few minutes should be more than enough."

Loki smirked and dipped his head then turned to follow the group into the room.

Strange watched after him and watched as Loki stepped into the doorway and slowly closed to door behind him, once the click of the latch sounded in the now quiet hall, he turned back towards the way they had come and walked back to the portrait at the end of the hall.