Loki opened and closed the door for Luna, seeing as both of her hands were taken up with bags from the grocery store and aquarium gift shop. No matter how he offered his assistance, she insisted on carrying them all by herself. Carefully placing everything on the ground, she pulled her shoes off, glancing back to make sure Loki locked the door. Once he did, she picked up her gift bag and went to her room to change, leaving Loki to do the same.
After taking his boots off, he pulled off the new hoodie Luna demanded he get because 'there's one in your size, you need it, and it can commemorate your first modern Earth outing.' He didn't need it. He was a Frost Giant. He could be in Antarctica and still feel comfortable in his regular daily clothes. But it was comfortable and buying it pleased her. Using money from Stark was odd, but having something to call his own felt nice.
After changing to a long-sleeved shirt and dark leggings, Luna opened up her gift bag. She wasn't one to hold out on treating herself when she could afford it, especially on her birthday. Sat on her bed, she admired her new purchases: a moon jellyfish necklace and a jellyfish nightlight. Of course, she had a need for neither of these things, but the point of a treat wasn't about needing something. Thinking of the groceries, she placed the nightlight on her bedside table and hung the necklace as she left her room.
Loki was how Luna expected to find him: clothes changed, hair down, sitting at the counter, sipping a glass of water, and perusing the contents of the grocery bags. Luna walked on as casually as always, rounding him quickly and pulling the rest of the things out. Loki had already retrieved his new hair and skincare products and lined them up beside him in order of ascending size.
Luna started on the refrigerated items first.
"Ok, so, for dinner, I have something planned that you may have never had before." She was a little apprehensive. Loki could tell.
"There seem to be no end to firsts with you."
She smiled at his semi-sweet words and took the box of tamarind from him. "Maybe for you. It's a very cultural dish, so I must warn you."
"Warn me about what? Are you actually going to poison me this time?" He smirked, lightly teasing her.
"No, no. It's just," Luna paused, wondering if it was worth explaining. "Some people get scared when confronted with new things from another culture, and not the good kind of scared."
Loki snickered. "You know I don't scare easy."
"Yeah, but still." Luna looked down and rubbed her left hand; an action not going unnoticed by her intimidating companion.
She wasn't looking for his permission. He knew she was the master of her household and he was the lucky guest residing in it.
He silently observed her before speaking. "Go ahead and make it." Snapping her head up, she caught his gaze. "As a god, I give you my word that I will not be frightened in the slightest."
She gave him a timid smile and answered with a small "Ok."
No, she didn't need his permission. Only some reassurance and respect.
Loki stayed where he was and watched Luna set up. He's seen the pans and bowls many times before, but some of the spices she brought down were new. She opened the jars and took slight whiffs of the contents. Curious.
Grabbing a spice grinder from a cupboard, she looked back at him. "What were some traditional dishes on Asgard, if any?"
"Large roasts were very popular. They were usually made to flaunt the talent and strength of the hunter."
"Those sound nice. Do you remember how they were prepared?"
Loki was taken aback. Not a question he thought he'd have to answer in his life.
"I'm afraid not," he muttered. "Royals never prepared their own meals." Luna stopped her motions and leaned the small of her back against the counter edge, beholding a wide smirk.
"My, my. Prince Loki of Asgard can't cook?" She couldn't help being amused at the thought of him unable to do something while it was as natural as breathing for her.
"Can't be too hard." She crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side.
"Well then, why don't you get up and show me how easy you think it is?" She challenged him, but he wouldn't let his ego give in so easily.
"I don't have to prove my ability."
Luna shrugged. "Ok. I'll just assume that it's too difficult for you," she said, slowly turning back to face the spice-decorated counter.
"Now, hold on." She stopped. "There is nothing too difficult for me," Loki enunciated, pointing a finger at her.
She leaned her forearms on the counter across from him. "Then cook with me and prove me wrong."
"Alright." He relented, getting up circling around to her side.
Luna stood tall, not at all equal to Loki's height, but it was hardly her purpose. In a way, she felt as if she had him right in the palm of her hand. He set his closest hand on the countertop, and she mirrored him.
"Ok, which of these would you choose first when making masala?" She gestured to the spice lineup.
Loki was utterly at a loss. "Excuse me?"
"I'm only teasing," she chuckled, waving her hand to dismiss her question. "Not many people know. There's no real set recipe, but I always choose coriander seed." She placed a fingertip on the lid of the largest jar containing round seeds. "It takes up most of the flavor."
"And the second?" He asked, his curiosity now rearing its little head.
"This." She tapped a container next to the first one. "Cumin. It's about half the amount of the coriander." She waved a hand over the rest. "And all of these are placed in sparingly as the amount can really influence the end taste."
Loki admired a small jar full of black mustard seeds. "Such a delicate balance."
"Well, yeah. That's part of why it's cultural. You can't learn this in a book. You just have to," Luna waved her hands and rolled her shoulders along with them, "feel it. I used to joke with my mom and say that our ancestors were guiding my hand when I would cook by myself." She twisted open the coriander jar.
"They could have been."
The ease with which Loki said such a comment made her hands fumble a little. He could have taken her for a fool, but of course, he wouldn't, what with how Norse culture is and what their views on death are.
"Yeah, they could have." Luna smiled. From one ancient culture to another, they weren't all too different. "Anyway, here. Hold your hand out, palm up." He obeyed, and she carefully cradled his hand with her own. She tilted the coriander seeds out into Loki's palm, stopping only when most of the space was covered. "For the two of us, about this much should be good."
"So little?" He whispered, his attention ensnared by the tiny things in his hand.
"We don't want it too strong, especially if this is your first time having it. Ok, now put it in the tray so we can measure out half of the amount in cumin."
Loki slowly tipped his hand to the side and spilled the seeds into their new enclosure.
"And you can just tell?" He asked, dusting his now-empty palm of any stray spice.
"Mhm." Luna nodded as she opened up the cumin. "It takes a trained eye and special touch. Plus, your hands are pretty great for measuring things." She gestured for him to lift his hand again. He did so, and she parceled out a smaller pile.
She took her time in judging if her instincts were correct. With the jar set back on the counter, she looked back and forth between the two spices. Loki was on the edge of his proverbial seat. Had she taken out the wrong spice? Was it the right spice but the incorrect amount? He was knowledgeable in many areas, more so than most of his rivals and supposed friends, but cooking had never once graced his aged mind. He was entirely out of his comfort zone.
With a single nod and wave of her hand, Luna affirmed the amount she took out, prompting Loki to place it alongside the other.
"Alright. With these two set, just tiny bits of the rest are needed." Luna took over, adding pinches of mustard and fennel seeds and several whole black peppercorns.
Loki picked up a jar half-full of deep yellow powder. "What about this?" Luna glanced over and shook her head.
"Not yet. Turmeric powder goes in separately." She set the oven to broil and slid the tray in after giving the spices a roll-around, leaving the door slightly ajar.
A cutting board atop the available empty space, Luna grabbed a fresh onion and a couple cloves of garlic. With those on the counter as well, she turned her attention back to where Loki stood, still clutching the turmeric jar.
"Ok, now, while I'm chopping the onions and garlic,-" she gently took the jar from him, "-I'm going to need you to watch the spices, so they don't burn." She redirects him to the open oven. "As soon as you see even a few wisps of smoke, take the tray out immediately and set it on this hot pad-" she tapped a thick woven pad on the opposite counter, "-to cool. Every second is precious, and it happens quickly, so keep your attention there."
Loki looked from the oven to the hot pad and nodded. Easy enough instructions to follow. He stood with his hands behind his back and kept a watchful eye on the toasting seeds. They seemed to take their own sweet time getting ready, so he let his gaze wander, if only for a second here and there.
Luna worked expertly on her part, quickly and carefully chopping the half onion into tiny squares and the garlic so small it almost became mush. She handled a knife a little too big for her hand, but she did so quite beautifully, almost as if it were an extension of herself. Loki couldn't seem to get used to it, but he enjoyed finding excuses to watch her.
As delicate tendrils of translucent white made themselves known, Loki opened the oven door a tad wider and grabbed the tray. He lifted it out, being mindful not to spill the contents as he made his way to the other counter. Once he had set the tray down, he dusted his hands, ridding them of the tingles from his singed nerves. They dissipated as fast as they had appeared, leaving nothing but a slight blush across his palm.
"Did you take that out bare-handed?!" Luna practically shouted, giving Loki a start.
"Well, yes." She dropped what she was doing and rushed over, grabbing his hands and inspecting them.
"Why didn't you take a pot holder? You could have hurt yourself!"
Loki snickered. Her panicked nature was unnecessary. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm quite alright. See?" He spread both hands out to her. "A little heat never hurt me."
With each line Luna traced on his palms, worry vanished from her until she could comfortably move and go back to what she was doing. Of course, he wasn't hurt. It would take a lot more than a small piece of hot metal to put so much as a blemish on his porcelain skin.
"Ok, so since you can take the heat, how would you like to prepare the tamarind sauce?"
"I might say yes if I knew what that entailed."
"Oh, it's so easy." Luna rinsed her hands and dried them with a dish towel. Out of the fridge, she presented the box Loki had been admiring. "This is tamarind. It's a kind of tropical fruit." She reached in and picked one up. "It does have a hard exterior, but I will show you how to remove it without so much as breaking a nail."
Drawing hot water from the tap, Luna placed a few tamarind pieces in a bowl and filled it until they were covered. She set the bowl down and, with great care, pressed her thumbs into the now-pliable shell. It shed off with ease, slowly revealing the softer insides. Once finished, she stepped back and gestured for Loki to try. And try he did. No dignified prince would be intimidated by a foreign fruit, least of all one like him.
Luna, in turn, checked on the spices and got on to sauté the onions and garlic. With lack of communication, she felt the silence build through her little apartment. No music, no talking. Only the sound of the oil in the pot heating up and the water nursing the tamarind. She wanted to leave – if just for five seconds – and turn on some background noise, whether from the television or the stereo. But she didn't.
The noise she loved would keep those awful intrusive thoughts at bay for as long as she could muster. But now, with Loki by her side, his presence alone was enough to dispel any wild imaginings from making a home in her mind for the night. Once more, she appreciated his company and was thankful for it.
Loki picked the last shell piece from the water. "Alright, is this it?" He tilted the bowl enough for Luna to see.
"It's perfect." She smiled. "Now drain that out and fill it again with fresh hot water. With this step, you really get to make the sauce." She turned the heat down and stepped closer to him. "Your goal now is to break it all up. See the little veins along the outside? You got to take those off first."
"And how would I do that?"
"Just pull it. After that, crush the pulp in the water until all you have are the seeds. It's a little weird and scary at first, but you'll get the hang of it real fast." She gave his shoulder a pat and rechecked the spices. The pan they sat in was now at room-temperature, indicating they were ready to be ground.
Luna made short work of the seeds, grinding them into a fine mixed powder. Behind her, Loki made quick work of the fruit, having almost wholly dismantled it all by the time the masala was ready. The scent of Luna's finished product further captivated him. Though smell was the strongest of all sensory memories, he couldn't for the life of him remember ever experiencing something even remotely similar on Asgard. Again, another virtue of being on Earth.
The aroma was stronger now, with the masala and a bit of water heating up in the pot. Loki could almost swear it was bewitching, slowly drawing him in under a spell. Along with him, Luna reveled in her success. She had been around such scents since before she could remember, but she always knew how it made her feel. It was the feeling of home, comfort, and love.
Adding a dash of the turmeric, she peered over to see Loki finishing the tamarind. "Oh, that looks amazing." Luna beamed. "Whenever you think it's ready, you can add it in." She gave the curry sauce a stir before dusting her hands and heading to her room.
"Wait, whenever I think it's ready?" Loki called out to her.
"Yeah," she smirked back at him, disappearing through the doorway.
All on his own, Loki was at a little bit of a loss. He gets to gauge how ready the tamarind was? The very name of the fruit had never crossed his mind before hearing of it barely an hour ago. As he cleaned off the last seed, he admired his work. Sauces were meant to be smooth, for the most part. The contents of the bowl were almost so.
Luna carried a bag of her tea light candles and lined the windowsill and sparing counter space with them. Loki contemplated asking for guidance, but she entrusted this task to him, and he would finish it. She'd praised the job he'd done till the present point, so it must be right.
With great care, he tipped the liquid into the already-simmering curry sauce, watching how it moved so as not to spill. He rinsed off the bowl and his hands and stirred the updated mixture, mimicking Luna's practiced movements. Still, little bubbles rose from the bottom, providing heat to the surrounding air and any of Loki's bare skin. He found it to be rather pleasant.
The sight before Luna was one to behold. She, a little human nobody, had successfully gotten Prince Loki, god of mischief, to cook. Well, help her with cooking, but it was an accomplishment in and of itself. She leaned against the counter outside of the kitchen and watched him. Appearance-wise, he looked comfortable and content, but she could only imagine what was going on in his mind.
She knew what displacement can feel like, the taste of isolation and hopelessness still bitter in her mouth. A wish she held for him was one where he didn't have to feel such things and, maybe, she could change a few negatives to positives. Cooking was a good start.
Luna took a whiff of the spicy-sweet aroma and circled back around to Loki's side. "Smells good." He sent her a brief smile. She grabbed a small spoon and took a taste, judging the quality. Discontent, she sprinkled in some more salt and tasted it again. "Ok, now it's ready for the very last part."
Loki stopped stirring. "There's one more step in this?"
"Yeah, but it's the last one." Luna took out a package of fresh flounder filets. "I mean, you could have just that over rice, but that's not what we're doing right now." She rinsed each piece before placing them gently in the curry. "The nice thing is this only takes a few minutes to cook through since the surrounding area is hot enough." With all the pieces cooking together, she covered the pot. "Ok, now it's all done. Not bad, right?"
"Hardly," Loki smirked. Luna walked back out to the living room area and beckoned Loki to follow.
"So, while we wait, you can help me light a couple of these-" she waved a hand in the direction of a line of tea lights "-and set up our movie." She opens a spare drawer and grabs a book of matches.
Loki takes the one she hands to him and strikes a match. "I can't very well do that if I don't know what we're watching."
"Oh, we're going to be watching one of my all-time favorites: Baby Driver." Luna lights the candles by the window and Loki starts on the ones near the kitchen.
"Isn't that the reason Stark always calls you by such a name?"
"Yes, and you're going to see why."
Once finished, Luna doused her match with water before tossing it out and checking on the food. She microwaved two bowls of leftover rice and served up Loki's first. The container sat pleasantly warm in his hands. He took in the smell of the completed dish, rice and all. If the term 'comfort food' had a more elaborate name, the contents of his hands were more than deserving of the description.
Luna gathered her bowl together and made her way to the couch, straightening up both their spots upon her arrival.
"I guess you could consider this a part of our Diwali celebration, even though it's a bit early." She set her bowl down on the coffee table and put the movie disc in.
"Our what?" Loki asked, sitting down in his spot.
"Diwali. You know, the festival of lights?" Luna sat down next to him. "Do you guys not have something like that?"
He shook his head slightly. "Not that I recall."
"Another first." Luna bumped his shoulder with hers. "Lucky you." She grinned, reaching for the remote and starting the film.
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Loki enjoyed the movie. He undeniably saw why Luna would be nicknamed after the main character: the love of music, the casual dancing, and the vaguely boyish charm. It was all there.
"Yes, you are a bit like him," he stated, shutting himself up with another spoonful.
Luna puffed her chest a little. "See? Obviously, Tony doesn't call me that because I'm a master behind the wheel, but yeah. There it is."
"Do you like blond serving girls as well?" Loki lightly teased as he watched Baby innocently interact with Debora.
"And serving boys," she said too quickly. Her breath caught in her throat. She had gotten too comfortable and assumed the tolerance level of her roommate. Her careless, joking words may have just dug her into a hole from which she could not escape. "Does...does that weird you out?" She timidly asked. There was no taking back her answer.
Loki, unbothered as always, furrowed his brow. "What? No. Why would you think it would?" Luna unwound her shoulders a bit, but she wasn't out of the woods yet.
"It's just...some people here, on earth, think it's weird. Was it weird on Asgard?"
Loki shook his head. "No, of course not. As long as the other person was willing, there was no problem. People did what they liked with whoever they liked."
Luna tapped the side of her bowl. "That sounds really nice," she muttered.
"Yeah, it was."
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After the movie was finished, the dishes were washed and put back where they belong. Loki washed up and made the couch back for himself. Luna had left the candles on, and he did the same, allowing their gentle flickering to lull him to sleep.
Luna took her bath after him, opting to take her time and enjoy some fresh bath salts and the like before sleeping. The warm water was soothing after spending much of the day in the growing cold.
Mindfully, she busied herself with her phone in the bathtub, scrolling through the same social media apps as always and playing a few levels of a puzzle game. It seemed everyone else had a flawless, beautiful life, unwrought with problems. Luna knew this to be untrue, but it was difficult not to indulge in falsities like those.
She checked her messages like she did every day. One would think she would get one from her mother saying 'happy birthday,' at least, but none came. Not the days before, the day of, nor the ones after. Luna let her tears flow over her already-wet face and stifled any sob attempting to make an escape from her. To disturb Loki with her emotions would not turn out well for either of them. He needed sleep, not to comfort her and offer false kindness.
A dangerous tingle crawled up her skin and circled around the thick scars on her thighs. She rested her hands on them. 'Later,' she thought. Her bath was not yet through. It itched most unpleasantly, though. It was hard to ignore, becoming more so by the second. She clenched her fist beneath the water. She needed a distraction, if only for a few more minutes. Searching her brain for a good, strong one, she stumbled upon something new. She dries her hands off, grabs her phone, and types in the internet search bar, 'How to grow a blue rose.'