Loki's eyes opened from underneath the book he nodded off to while reading. Removing it from his face, he marked his spot with a bookmark and rose to investigate what had disturbed his almost-nap. Luna stood by the door she had recently closed and locked. As Loki looked at her, his brow furrowed. Something was different about her. Shedding her jacket, she spoke to him.
"So, I finally got that haircut I've been talking about. What do you think? How does it look?" She held her hands out and slowly spun once in place.
"It's shorter."
"Yeah, but does it look good?" He looked over her appearance, neglecting to answer her. To him, she looked fine as always. She waved a hand to dismiss him. "Never mind. I know I look cute. I'm gonna go change real quick." She swiftly left to her room, shutting and locking the door behind her.
Luna shed her clipping-covered shirt and turned it inside-out to dust her head and face off before tossing it in the laundry hamper along with her pants. She opened her closet and looked inside, deliberating on what to wear to relax in. She absentmindedly ran her hands over her slightly dry skin, feeling the transition of the smooth area to the itchy raised ones. Making a mental note to put moisturizer on after her shower, she reached for a fresh shirt and a pair of clean workout leggings. While finishing dressing, something caught her attention from the inner corner of her closet: the outfit Loki had first arrived in.
It had changed since she last saw it. She picked it up and turned it around to the back and then to the front again. Keeping her gaze glued to the clothing in her hands, she slowly walked back out into the living room.
"Hey, wasn't this green when you came here?" She said, catching Loki's attention once more as he tied his hair up. He got up and walked closer to where Luna stood.
"It seems the charm I placed on it has worn off," Loki said, thumbing the cape fabric.
"How come it's blue? I thought you liked green."
"The leader of the last planet I was on liked blue. He was...is a bit of a tyrant but I needed to win his favor, so I chose this to wear."
"And did it work? Winning his favor?"
Loki grimaced a bit and nodded his head from side to side. "For a time."
Luna raised an eyebrow and turned the cape to reveal the opposite side. "And the yellow?"
"Something to contrast." He moseyed back over to the couch, having had enough of the conversation. Luna felt that much from him, but she needed to get the last word in. She held the suit at arm's length and visualized him wearing it in her mind's eye.
"I know green is your color, but you really do look good in blue."
She smiled warmly, more for herself than for Loki. She was content with her comment, and, unbeknownst to her, so was he. Though he knew she couldn't see, he still bent his head to hide the charming smile gracing his features.
Luna drew the suit closer, almost to an embrace, and ran a hand over the menagerie of leather, fabric, and armor, every piece as dinged and damaged as the last. The singed areas rubbed her skin in all the wrong ways, and the rips weren't any better. She was glad Loki didn't have to wear it any longer than he needed to. Still, it felt a little wrong to have something uniquely his be so damaged in her own home.
Setting the garments at the foot of the couch, Luna marched back to her room to get her sewing box. She toted it back out and put it down next to her on the ground. Unfurling the cape from the pile, she lay it secure across her lap and opened her box to pick a dark blue thread.
"What are you doing with that?" Loki said with a start.
"I'm mending it for you," Luna replied as she threaded a needle. "But don't worry, I'm a pretty capable sewer." After tying a knot, she began mending a tear on the blue side.
"I wouldn't have taken you for a seamstress." Luna looked up and gave Loki a smirk.
"Oh, Loki, there's a lot you don't know about me."
"I bet I could figure you out. I happen to be a very perceptive person." Loki leaned a bit closer to her side. Needle safe in hand, Luna mirrored his action.
"Go right ahead. Many men have tried."
"I think you will find me to be no mere man." He gave her a smirk of his own, accepting her challenge.
"Oh, of that, I am sure," she stated, leaning back and resuming her task. Loki eyed her for a few more seconds before picking his book back up and continuing the story.
Growing discontent with the silence, Luna reached for the stereo remote, turning the machine on and pressing play. She paid no mind to the album currently sitting in the slot. Whatever played would be better than the quiet. Luckily, the smooth R&B voice of Frank Ocean flowed through the room, setting the perfect pace for the activities the two were up to.
Luna nodded her head to each song, an expression of bliss on her face as she sewed up every rip and tear she could. Occasionally, she would find Loki glancing over at her, most likely to make sure she wasn't doing any unnecessary tampering.
Humming along to 'Pyramids,' Luna lifted her head and massaged her hands, paying special attention to her pin-pricked fingers. She took her glasses off and rubbed her eye, moving her head in Loki's direction. With his hair tied back, she could admire the full expanse of his beautiful profile. He looked better and better each day she saw him. Hopefully, it wasn't wishful thinking.
The angles of his face had grown softer from what she had seen in the security videos. His hair was different too. It lay soft and wavy instead of slick and straight. It looked a little more him if that made any sense.
"Have you always had long hair like that?" Luna wondered aloud, instantly regretting the words as they left her mouth. However, Loki answered her before she could take back the question.
"It was shorter at one time, not unlike yours." She lifted a hand and touched the freshly-cut strands at the back of her neck.
"Have you ever thought about cutting it?" She clenched her hand, backtracking as fast as she could. "You know what? That's too personal. Forget I asked." Loki let out a dry laugh.
"I have, but I'm used to this now." He gestured to his head. Luna observed the few loose strands tucked behind his ear.
"It's nice," she said. Clearly, Loki responded well to diplomacy and respect. Luckily, for the two of them, she was good at both.
Finishing the last stitch, Luna cut the thread and packed away her supplies. The cape was done for the most part. Loki was a tall person, so there was a lot to his clothes. The other pieces would get the attention they deserved at a later time. Folding each piece neatly, Luna placing the cape on the bottom of the small pile, and carried it back to her closet along with her sewing supplies.
Luna didn't take work home often, but this new project just so happened to require her to do so, at least for now. She picked up her lab notebook and a folder full of print-outs and brought it back to the living room. It was something she had always done by herself as there was more room to spread things out. Having a long-term guest did little to deter her from her habit.
Returning to her spot beside him, she opened up her notebook and looked through each print-out, comparing and contrasting any ideas she had, both new and old. In the process of jotting down her interpretations of evidence, she had noticed Loki peaking over every so often. Granted he was sneaky, but she had years of practice in keeping her work safe, especially in front of other people. But none of those people had ever been the muse behind her mind.
"I have some cool science stuff to show you if you'd be interested," Luna said, angling her body a little more towards him, opening herself up. He looked from the book in her hand to her eyes, making contact.
"Show me, and I will let you know if I am." Luna scooted a little closer.
"I think you would be since it's all about you." She opened her book to the desired page and grabbed a loose sheet of paper by her side.
"Well then, I am all the more interested now."
"I just feel it's your right to know since it's your DNA I'm looking at." Luna looked down to the papers laid out on her lap and back up to Loki.
"I presume you've done this before."
"Oh yes. With every enhanced member of the Avengers. With their consent, of course."
"And what have you found on them?"
"Now that information is highly confidential, and if I told anyone, I might die instantly, but we're not here to talk about them. We're here to talk about you."
"I thought we were here because I required refuge and you were the only one who would provide me with it," Loki said, smiling at his own light jest.
"That's true, but please, humor me a little," Luna chuckled a little. "Ok, to start with, you matched fairly high with enhanced human DNA, but I sort of expected that to happen."
"Enhanced human? Who did you compare me with?" Luna had his full attention now.
She looked down and fidgeted with her hands. "Don't freak out, but it was Steve."
Loki blinked and furrowed his brow. "The soldier? Really?"
"Well, yeah." Luna drew her arms close to her body.
"What reason could you have for using him of all Midgardians?"
"It was based on a hypothesis I came up with one day at work. Both you and Steve are capable fighters. Five years ago, you two fought hand-to-hand in Germany and got away with barely a scratch. You're both strong, tough, possess impressive stamina, and have the propensity for eternal youth."
"That is all true, but what does any of that have to do with comparing us?" Loki's curiosity quelled the edge in his voice.
"Everything. There are so many physical similarities between you, I just had to know if it had something to do with your respective genomes. I've been studying Steve's almost the entire time I've worked at the compound, and I've had a tough time with it. His DNA is unique. There's nothing like it anywhere. I had nothing to use as a second reference, however vague it might have been. But then here you come with your fearsome self, chalk full of new DNA just waiting to be looked at." Luna caught herself and tried to soften her approach. "I know that sounds like I'm taking advantage of you, and you can tell me to stop at any time, but my intentions are based purely on professional curiosity, and it's against my scientific and moral code to disregard your voice if you feel I'm intrusive."
Loki stayed quiet and thought about what she had just said and subsequently done. She gave him a choice based purely on his own comfort, no matter if his decision disrupted her work or not. He stared at the vague patterns on the floor in the hope they could help him form a solid answer, but he was again left to his own devices.
"Never mind Rogers. Show me what you found about me."
Luna let her shoulders relax a bit. "Ok, so I found some pieces here that line up with Steve's in controlling immune responses. He never gets sick and heals very fast, so for the sake of this step in my research, I assumed it was the same with you. Since he's not an alien, his is coded differently than yours, but they rest along the same stretch of DNA." Luna fanned herself with her hand. "Sorry if I'm not explaining myself well. I get excited sometimes."
"That all sounds astounding, but it can't be all."
"No, there's lots more." She pointed to a picture and a string of letters on another piece of paper. "Here's this really interesting one I found in yours. I think I found a similar one in Steve, but I can't be sure right now. I have to look at it more, but it's my favorite so far." Loki waited for her to continue and waved a hand when she didn't.
"And? What is it?"
"Ever hear of the wood frog?" Loki crinkled his brow.
"I believe so."
"Do you know what's really cool about it?"
"I can't read your mind. Go ahead and tell me."
"Where it lives, when the frosts come, it can let itself freeze to the point where its heart stops beating. It can sit like that for months on end, and when the spring comes, and it begins to thaw, its body starts working again like nothing had ever happened to it."
Loki was torn between being intrigued by the abilities of a tiny frog and concerned over what Luna could discover about him. He chose the former for now.
"This is real?"
"Yeah, I saw a whole documentary segment on it years ago."
"How does it happen?"
"The whole process starts before the frog actually freezes. It accumulates the substances urea and glucose throughout its body to act as a sort of antifreeze, protecting the cells from the ice and keeping them from shrinking and rupturing when begins to take on ice. That's how I think Steve survived. Now, I can't know for sure that that's what happened, but I can give it my best guess based on hard evidence."
"You said it's similar in mine. What's different?" Loki asked, searching the papers nearest to him for anything to help him come up with his own conclusion.
"How it's coded. I only have a feeling it does something similar since those pieces don't match with anything in the surrounding amino acid sequences. Like I said, I need more time to look at it, but yeah, there you go."
Luna passed Loki the print-outs she made for him to look at, relinquishing control of the conversation over to him. Wherever his interests took him, she would let him go. For the time being, he remained silent, eyes moving over the papers in his gentle grasp. Luna had a hard time reading if he liked what he saw or not. She could only hope.
Having had enough, Loki lay the papers on his lap and looked up to her waiting eyes.
"What more have you found?"
----------
"And here-" Luna coughed a little, "-is what I think causes your tissue to be denser and stronger than a human's." As Loki admired the information on the page, Luna's stomach let out a loud rumble. "My goodness, what time is it?" She stood and looked to the kitchen. "Oh, it's so late! I should have started dinner over an hour ago! And we still have a movie to watch." She darted into the kitchen, got a glass of water, and looked over the array of produce fridge contents in the hope of an idea popping up. Unfortunately, nothing was sprouting in her conscious brain. She couldn't let Loki go hungry in her own home. "Alright, since I have absolutely no idea what to make, what would you like that's here already? I stocked up on some good instant food the other day." Luna called out to Loki.
"You don't know what to make? That's a first," he said, making his way to her.
"A first for you. But yeah, anyway, what strikes your fancy?" Luna planted herself equidistant to the fridge and counter, fists pressed into either hip.
"Depends on what you have." Luna quietly sighed and opened the fridge door.
"We have guacamole, hummus, salsa, almond butter, various fruit preserves, some bread over there, and other such things. Oh, and ice cream for later."
"So just toast and spread?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Luna leaned in and grabbed the container of guacamole, passing it to Loki for him to hold. "I've made so many depression meals out of stuff like this. It's kinda how I'm alive right now." Loki examined the contents of the round dish in his hand. Luna stood back to her full height. "Anyway, toast." She twisted open the bread bag, popped four slices into the toaster, and pushed the levers down.
A slightly awkward silence settled over the two, the buzzing of the toaster heater barely audible. Luna leaned against the counter and stared at her feet to keep her eyes from wandering to where they shouldn't.
"So what's the story for tonight?" Loki's voice prompted her to look at him, a little confused at first as to what he was referring to.
"Oh right, the movie! I'll set that up." Luna padded over to the shelf by the TV and grabbed a DVD case. "We are watching 'The Cabin in the Woods.' It's a bit of a reference movie to past horror films that take place at cabins in the woods and stuff like that. I think you'll really like this one. It's got old god and some good ritual human sacrifice." The finished toast revealed itself with a click, beckoning for anyone listening to remove it. Once the movie was queued up, Luna brushed past Loki and plucked a few plates from the cupboard to lay the slices on and a few pieces of silverware. "Alright, let's get this show on the road."
"You mean to start the film?" Loki sat in his spot, setting the container down on the coffee table.
"Yeah, let's do it," Luna said, sitting beside him and pressing play.
As the opening credits began, Luna divvied up the toast for the both of them, two for her and two for him. Immediately, Loki was drawn in, trying to figure out the concept before the story was underway. A small habit of his. He jumped at the reveal of the title card, nearly displacing his entire plate. Luna expected it but didn't judge. It was meant to be a jump-scare. Loki relaxed back, partaking of his meal as the movie continued and introduced more characters.
"Oh, she draws too," Loki said in between bites. Luna hummed in affirmation, a little tickled he would make a comment like that, whether or not he meant it as a throw-away. Loki remained settled, content with the meal balanced in his hand. His state of being was short-lived, his whole body drawing to attention as Curt made his first appearance on-screen. "Brother?"
"What?" Luna's head snapped in his direction.
"He looks an awful lot like...," Loki trailed off, pointing at the screen with his free hand. Luna's eyes grew wide at his discovery.
"Oh my, you're right!" She exclaimed. Loki sat staring at the screen, a bit petrified at the sight.
"It's not...no," he whispered, leaning back slowly, resting the empty plate in his lap and laying his hands at his sides. No need to get any hopes up over a look-a-like. This person was an actor. A human.
A light cloud of melancholia settled over him, expanding to include Luna in the dampened mood. He didn't have to say anything for her to know what could be going through his mind. The urge to touch him, to comfort him physically, returned to the forefront of her mind. His large hand lay empty his side, almost asking for someone to hold it tight and never let go. Luna clenched her own fist to keep from doing just that. She couldn't risk him clamming up further or making him feel demeaned. Grabbing all the empty dishes to return to the kitchen, the best remedy for the dense air came right to her.
Luna came back from her kitchen journey carried two new things in hand. Sitting back down, she held one thing out in front of Loki to take. His attention adequately caught, he took the item to examine it. Sure enough, it was his favorite ice cream, accompanied by a spoon and serviette. He looked to Luna, who held an opened ice cream bar in her grasp.
"He's ok. Thor. He's ok," she said before taking a small bite of her sweet.
"How are you sure?"
"Weren't you the one who told me he's too stubborn to die?"
"How do you know I wasn't lying?"
"I don't, but I believe you, and that's good enough for now." She settled back into the couch, finding a comfortable position to enjoy her ice cream. She sat closer to Loki, their shoulders mere inches from touching. He opened the carton slowly and partook of the contents. Each bit he took ebbed away at the intense feeling in his chest.
His hand, however, felt odder by the second. He glanced down to see the telltale wisps of blue start to stain his fingers, millimeter by millimeter, his nails already a deep navy. In fear of being discovered, he quickly switched hands and pulled the long sleeve of his shirt down over both hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Luna's gaze stayed affixed to the film. He sighed quietly and continued enjoying the frozen treat.
Yes. Good enough for now.