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[ The outsized reaction feels a little ridiculous now. Kory would have done the same when they'd first met, if she'd been able to teleport. Raven had done the same.

And that's his cue to sweep in gallantly, crouching down beside her to reach for the towel. ]

No. No no it's fine. Honest. I don't even know where it came from, it's probably Ray's...

Edited 2017-04-20 02:54 (UTC)

Ah, but then that's worse, it's irreplaceable because it was your friend's. [ With the broken shards safely in the bundled towel she hands it over, smiling at him softly. ] I'll repay the debt with something that I can't have back once it's gone; a kiss. You can ask for it anytime.

[ But for now Loki rises and reaches for her bag of supplies. ]

Shall we get started?

[ It's honestly the nicest way anyone has ever cleaned a patch of his floor. For a moment he's still, left at an odd loss for words. ]

...Ray was a friend, sure. [ And he's snapping out of it, standing up to toss the towel straight into the trash, slam dunk style. ]

I don't know that it was working out between me and the coffee pot.

[ He's getting the mayo. ]

[ Officer Grayson's got some moves; his accuracy in the slam-dunk reinforces the agile way he sprang into a defensive stance before. Eyeing him curiously, she takes out the bacon and eggs and starts heating up the cooker. ]

Is that your roundabout way of saying 'No, thanks!' to my kisses? [ The ribbing continues. ] No breakfast meats for you today.

Well, I wouldn't say that... [ Mayo acquired, he lines the jars up on the counter in a meticulous line. Then he's just going to lean a little across the breakfast bar, watching her work with something like fascination. ]

But it's not every day you earn that kind of promise from an Asgardian god. [ His eyes flick up again, and the smirk makes it's return. ]

Call it in once and it's gone.

Very true, legend has it that I burst into dust upon every second kiss that attempts to pass my lips from the same person. Myths can be so harsh. Romance is tough! [ A wink his way says she just made that tall tale up, though.

Dropping strips of bacon into a sizzling pan (she brought her own pans, yes, so organised!) she begins chopping up some chicken and dropping those chunks in too, a drizzle of honey topping the lot. Four eggs are cracked and Loki starts scrambling them up in a bowl with butter, adding a scoop of mayo from one of Dick's jars.

This is going to be a breakfast of the gods or one that sends Dick to meet more when he has a heart-attack after eating it. ]

I used to travel when I was, er, relatively younger. With the Young Avengers, as a matter of fact, and every so often when we weren't kicking our way through the Multiverse we'd stop at a diner and get breakfast. A really American diner, you know the sort? We would skip other meals but breakfast became our own brand of religion.

[ It feels like filling in the silence but in a good way, over-sharing happier memories doesn't make Loki feel weak (not if she circumvents the worst parts). The sunshine peeling through Dick's windows is warm and in his kitchen, as it begins to smell like meat, Loki relaxes considerably. It also has a lot to do with his ease of character, a sweet nature that forgave her inadvertently smashing his stuff. ]

Edited 2017-04-21 19:16 (UTC)

Yeah?

[ Young Avengers. It's a small piece of a larger story, but the part there that matters tugs at something in him. He listens silently, going to the fridge for cheese. Ketchup. A large box of awful, sugary cereal. One of these things is not like the others. ]

Same here. There was this... great little diner in Manhattan where I used to take the, uh- crowd I ran with. [ He can't say team, and something quick flashes in his eyes with the omission. ]

...But it was the one spot where we could all decompress. Where we all came together no matter what we thought was in between us.

[ He sets the items on the counter beside the mayo, and then he leans there again, chin propped on one hand. He doesn't really know yet if he'll ever be able to think of that moment in time without the ache of absence. Somehow with the pride of all they'd accomplished. The unbreakable bond they'd formed. He wonders if Loki, housed with former enemies, has any friends here to compensate.

His eyes flick towards hers again. ]

You ever miss it?

[ Paying attention as she takes the ingredients from Dick, Loki's curiosity only subsides when he tries to catch her eye and she looks down at the pan of eggs. She shrugs carelessly, as if the memory — of leaving without saying goodbye (after her awful confessions) and paying for the New Year's rave with treasure so the YA could party without her — doesn't hurt. ]

Billy Kaplan was one of them. He's here, I live with him in the apartment, so it's hard to miss him when he has no level of chill.

[ It's a light-hearted tease but it omits another answer, that she misses them all quite a lot. Best to move the conversation away from herself. ]

Which diner was it that you frequented? I settled in Manhattan and know it well, maybe there is some overlap between our universes and I went there too. [ A small wistful smile curls up the corners of cherry-red lips. ] Perhaps we were sat opposite each other in the same booth. Same day, same place, same time ... different worlds.

[ That's a pretty thought, naively unlikely though it is. ]

[ It's not an omission that escapes him. But it's not as if he's not keeping a few cards close himself, and she's allowed some privacy there. He files it away for consideration later.

He's glad she isn't alone. ]

Like one of those glimpse through the veil things? [ It would be funnier if that wasn't a thing that had actually happened to his universe a few years back. But it makes him smile anyway. ]

Could be. There's not much that would surprise me now.

Though something tells me I'd remember you if our strings ever crossed.

Oh, and why is that?

[ Inspecting the sugary cereal with a smirk, she delves into it to steal a few pieces to munch on as she cooks. Totally innocent, not flirting at all. ]

[ He taps his chin, pretending to give the question serious thought. As if she doesn't already know. ]

Hm. Can't be the retiring mystique or the dazzling wit.

[ He's stealing a handful of that cereal too. ]

Must be the eyes.

You really are the worst. Total cheese! Mozzarella-wrapped-cheddar.

[ Inordinately pleased as she indulges in a wider smile and can't hold back a pleased blush (she's a little shallow when it comes to flattery, sue her), two plates are served up on the breakfast bar and when she reaches his side, Loki pecks him on the cheek. ]

Eat up, you're a growing officer of the law.

[ Perching on her own stool next to him, she makes sure her one of her folded legs rests against his. ]

[ It's a very fetching blush. Like everything else about her.

And Loki, as it turns out, is a hell of a cook. He needs to return the favor soon, if she lets him, even though that'll probably mean going out on the town rather than subjecting her to his embarrassingly utilitarian skillset in the kitchen.

There's a sweetness to her odd sense of mischief. Something generous in her obvious desire for company. He doesn't really think for a second that the press of her leg against his is an accident, but he's... finding himself very disinclined to pull away. He should probably be thinking that through a little more.

But the truth is it's been a long time since he's had anything like this. A warm presence in an empty space. Contact with someone he doesn't have to wrestle into a wet gutter. He's missed it badly.

A few blissful bites in, he reaches across the bar for the cereal, which he sure is going to crush up in his hands and then sprinkle delicately across his plate like table salt. ]

Not that I wouldn't admire the hell out of your finesse either way-

But I've gotta ask. How much of it's actually magic?

[ It's pretty much what he would use magic for if he had the power, so. ]

[ Since Dick did it, Loki crumbles up a little cereal too and sees how that tastes with her own meal. Not awful! ]

I don't cook with spells, that'd be lazy as Hel. [ The look she gives him is steady. ] You shouldn't do everything with magic, Grayson. Once you do, it becomes easy to lose sight of the value of the thing you create.

Like breakfast. Or a person.

[ MUNCHMUNCHMUNCH, time to eat so she doesn't need to follow up on that hint; yes, she's created a person. Dick has an innate habit of making her want to be more truthful with him, that's all. ]

[ Dick gives that thought his full attention, meeting her gaze for as long as she lets him. It's a responsible, grounded line of reasoning. And maybe that shouldn't surprise him.

A person, she'd said. He wonders if she has a child. ]

I guess if we're not calling breakfast sacred, that kind of begs the question of where you'd even stop from there.

[ This breakfast actually is sacred. All the more so for not being magiced that way. He goes back to eating, munching thoughtfully. ]

I've never really envied people that kind of power.

[ Kory. Raven. Joey. Danny. Superman. Almost all of the names hurt. All of them are dead, or died at least once in the past, or are lost to him forever now. ]

That's smart. Magic ... Magic is wonderful, it helps you become more than you are, but if you abuse it too much then you risk losing yourself in it. It's like swimming, in a way. It's fun to take a dip in the sea and avoid the sharks out there, although odds are you'll get bitten if you go too far.

[ This is turning into the most thoughtful breakfast. ]

My best friend never envied me the power I wield. [ Her lips twitch with a smile, fork idly stabbing her food. ] She preferred it when we did normal things, yet she accepted I was not.

It's part of who you are, isn't it? [ Dick's smiling at her again; the faint question there in his face. He wants to know how she defines it. ]

There a reason why you can't be both?

It is, but I wouldn't like to be defined as merely a sorcerer. How boring that would be. And I like to think, [ as she stabs her fork into a morsel on his plate, stealing it to pop in her mouth, ] that I'm all things at once, just to be well-rounded.

[ Tilting her head with a teasing flirt in tow, she squints at him curiously. ]

What would you say I'm like, my Officer?

[ She's sharp in a way that's somehow still startling. Kind in a way that's never quite without edges. Vulnerable at odd moments. When he'd broken the coffee pot. It tugs at his heart.

Instead he says: ]

You think a lot about this stuff. But that's not all you think about.

[ He slides his fork over onto her plate, stealing a morsel back. He looks for her gaze again. ]

You care.

[ The flicker in her eyes says he's right, she actually overthinks a lot. She drops his gaze when he steals from her plate, poking back at it with her fork just for something to do. ]

Occasionally.

[ Constantly. She finishes her meal, giving a shrug. ]

Quite observant, aren't you? That must make you a competent lawman. Have you put away many criminals?

[ No is the safe answer. Easy to hide behind a lack of practical experience, when he hasn't so much as put on a real uniform yet back home.

Somehow for Loki, he's inclined to go for the truer response. ]

A few, yeah. [ Watch him duck away from that moment of honesty by scooping the plates up and taking them to the sink. ]

Not that they've exactly let me out of the Academy yet, back home. [ A sheepish grin is tossed over his shoulder. ]

Still a few days shy of graduation, if you can believe that.

[ ... Interesting. ]

How brave of you to apprehend them without a badge. [ At some point Loki has moved while Dick's back is turned, silent as a cat. She leans back on the kitchen counter opposite him, sharing his immediate space as if remaining on the other side of the breakfast bar was too far to bear. ] I believe it, by the way. Despite your beauty, you come off as the capable sort. Not many tick both boxes.

Well, you know what they say about appearances. [ She's so quick on her feet that he almost misses the movement until he half-turns and suddenly she's there again. He's blushing already - embarrassment at the odd compliment, at his own desire to keep right on telling her things he shouldn't - and the effect of the sudden proximity compounds it.

She's the one so beautiful it's breathtaking. Dick reminds himself to breathe. ]

You know, a less amiable guy than me might not take that as a compliment.

I don't like to hang out with less amiable men these days.

[ He can take from that what he will and the nugget of a story with it. She cocks her head, watching him with an unblinking, thoughtful stare. ]

Breakfast was good, mainly because I made it. We should do it again sometime. Perhaps binge on the finest of cereals?

Hey now, we can't all be an effortless Julia Child. [ He tries to match that stare, but there's a smile fighting it off. She doesn't strike him as someone who makes alliances by chance. It's a little flattering to be seen entirely outside of the suit, outside of the framework so much of his life exists inside and still be deemed...

What?

Competent? Worth befriending? Something more than that? ]

But I could definitely use a friend who really gets the fine art of the cereal binge.

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ikols - 2017-05-16 11:30 (UTC) - Expand