Loki couldn't tell if Jane was surprised, irritated, or worried that he was visiting again. Her brow wrinkled, and her mouth twisted up on one side when she opened the door to his knock. She did not speak at first, chewing on her lower lip as she stared at him. But finally, she stepped back into the apartment, and indicated with a hand beckon that he should come in.

"He'll be home soon," she advised, as Loki steered clear of the loveseat and folded himself down onto the sofa. "Have you tried catching him at Avengers Headquarters?"

The God of Mischief winced. "I am unwelcome there at this time."

Thor's woman tried to hide a smile. "Does it have something to do with suggesting that Nick Fury is backed up?"

"I believe that was the cause, yes. It seems that he was insulted at the idea of anyone thinking him sexually inactive currently."

Jane closed the door, and walked over to sit down on the loveseat, facing him. "Most guys would be. Are you here for more mortal dating advice?"

"Mostly," he admitted candidly. He picked up the small pillow beside him, and absently squeezed it. "I find myself in a situation where I cannot control the events, nor my reaction to them. I am not accustomed to not being in control of a situation, and I do not like the feeling of helplessness that it has caused." His nostrils flared as the memories assaulted him. He had lost all semblance of control and rationality when Darcy had assembled her "banana split," and then teased that she would not eat it. He had begged. He, the God of Mischief, had begged a mortal girl to pleasure him. Begged. In a breathless, trembling, WEAK voice. A mortal girl. Who tended to wear bulky, oversized clothes, and blush if a guy talked to her. Yet she had completely owned him! He would have done anything in that moment, if only to make sure she completed what she had started.

"Uh Loki?"

He looked up to meet Jane's eyes. She looked concerned and frightened.

"Yes Jane?"

She tried to smile reassuringly, but it was more of a frightened smile. "You're not about to go psychotic again, are you? Or has my pillow done something to offend you?"

He looked down at his hands. The small pillow was shredded, gutted remains littering the floor and his legs. Was he about to go psychotic? No. But he felt like he was tumbling end over end, and he didn't know which way was up. How did people, mortal or otherwise, handle these feelings and still function? An unexpected admiration for others was not what he had expected to gain from finally exploring physical intimacy. It was unwelcome and troubling.

"I apologize." A slight wave of his fingers, and the pillow reassembled itself. A startled indrawn breath had him raising his eyes to look at Jane again. Her face had lost some color, and Loki understood why she feared him, but wished it were not so.

"That's....wow."

He tried an unthreatening smile. "It is a minor talent of mine. All things carry an inherent memory of their totality. It is an easy thing to encourage it to resume that totality."

"Easy for you, maybe. Most people are not able to encourage things to reassemble themselves. It's a little scary."

Loki stared down at the reassembled pillow resting on his legs. "Others have always found me scary, or unimportant. It defined my entire life. When I went 'psychotic', I was the important one. Everyone was talking about me."

"Not in a good way," Jane said softly.

"No. But I was no longer being overlooked, or dismissed. It was a very powerful feeling." Loki exhaled slowly. He was scaring Jane. He could feel her fear. He could almost taste it. For a brief moment, he thought about embracing that part of himself again. The part that had only ever wanted to be Thor's equal. The part of him that reasoned if people weren't going to notice him in a positive way, then he'd burn his name into the most terrified shadows of their souls. That slimy little inner part of him had reveled in the screams. It had been so very powerful.

But Thor expected better of him, and Loki owed his big brother a debt that could never be repaid. Thor had believed in him, and never stopped loving him, even at his worst, and Loki would not disappoint him.

He looked up at Jane and smiled. "Thankfully, I am no longer that person. Thor saved me from my darker traits. It is my hope that he can save me yet again."

"Help with mortal dating?" He saw her tense muscles relax.

"That would be one area where I seek assistance, yes. Asgardians are a bit more...reserved...when it comes to courting."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Yes, I remember. I practically had to assault your brother and drag –" She flushed bright red when Loki's eyes widened. "Um never mind. I can't believe I was just about to discuss that with you." She slapped her hands onto her flaming cheeks. "Oh my god. I really can't believe I said that to you."

Loki grinned wickedly. "I believe that your little...slip of the tongue...can be used to my advantage should my brother decide to heckle me about mortal dating. Thank you Jane. This has proven to be a very illuminating and profitable conversation."

"Thor's gonna kill me."

"I doubt that. He seems quite smitten with you."

The outside door banged open. Noticing the dents in the wall behind the door, Loki wondered if his brother would ever learn to temper his great strength.

"Loki!" Thor greeted. "You've come for further advice?" He only needed two steps to cross the room and clasp Loki's arm in greeting. His smile was nearly as big as his heart, the God of Mischief noted absently. He watched his brother settle down beside Jane, whose cheeks were slowly regaining a normal coloration.

"Unusual though it might be, yes." He couldn't resist. "I have discovered, and Jane has confirmed, that mortal women are far less reserved than Asgardian women. I am not accustomed to women attacking and ravishing me." He watched in delight as Thor blushed and cast a quick look at Jane. She was looking anywhere but at his brother, with an embarrassed little smile. "I find myself quite...unsettled."

"It is quite different here," Thor agreed. "You will require some time to adjust, but you shall, Loki. You are far more clever than I, and better able to adapt to change."

Loki balled his hands into fists. "I know my own abilities, Thor. I was hoping that you could provide some sort of solution to my maddening inability to control my own reactions to these situations."

Thor leaned forward to peer into his eyes. It made Loki uncomfortable. Being the trickster, and the silver tongued God of Lies, he had developed the habit of avoiding other's eyes, often looking off to the side or just above the head of the person he was speaking to. But this was his brother, and Thor was searching for something. He stared steadily into his brother's blue eyes, and clutched the pillow on his legs even tighter.

"I have never seen you unsettled around women before, Loki." That caused a bitter old anger to resurface. Thor had never realized that Loki would not, could not, become intimate with the women in Asgard. The comparison to his brother would have been inevitable, and the thought of women gossiping about who was more impressive in bed had left him cold. In retrospect, maybe his temperature difficulties had been caused more by his frost giant heritage than the thought of being compared to Thor, but still....

Thor was relentless. "Are mortal women truly that disturbing to you? Or is it that you feel some emotion for one of them, in that cold heart of yours?"

Loki didn't really appreciate the sly underhanded reference to his heritage in Thor's question, and he was unpleasantly surprised by his brother's insight. He had not considered the possibility that there could be emotions involved in his activities with Darcy. Did he have feelings for her? Outside of the purely physical feelings of lust and satisfaction? He could not answer that question. There was too much confusion. Living in the mortal realm was adding unexpected depth to Thor's character.

"I....I honestly do not know, brother. The concept is foreign to me. I...do not relate well to people."

Thor sat back, and waved a dismissive hand. "Bah. That was on Asgard. You did not relate well to others there because they expected you to be like them, and you were not. I love Asgard, and it will always be our home, but they do have a rather narrow view of what is considered acceptable. Here on Earth, diversity is accepted and encouraged. You may find that you relate better to mortals than you ever did with our own people."

Loki almost swallowed his tongue. He had never expected that such depth of thought could come from his brother. He could not even dismiss Thor's suggestion, because he felt that it was probably true. He had always felt comfortable around Darcy, and amused by Tony Stark. He was even able to speak to the other Avengers with little difficulty, knowing that they watched him for signs of turning evil, but did not judge him on his choice to wield magic rather than a sword.

"Thor....you have given me much to think about."

His brother was not so easily distracted. "Good. Is there a mortal woman who has captured your attention?"

"Perhaps," he mused. "As I said, it is a foreign concept. I need to further evaluate the situation."

"Ah but there is a situation!" Thor smiled in triumph. "So you have been attacked and ravaged by a mortal woman. Ah, Loki. She must be special to capture your interest." He winked, and cast a covert look at Jane. "Mortal women can be very inventive. Knowing how easily you become bored, this is a good thing."

How was it possible that he was blushing, again? And why did it have to be in front of his brother? Thor did not forget things like that, and would use it to make him horribly uncomfortable.

"You are blushing, brother. I cannot even imagine what this mortal woman may have done to you to cause that reaction."

Jane bumped Thor's side with a smile. "And tear apart my pillow with his bare hands."

Thor threw his head back and laughed. "Oh Loki! Someone has bewitched and beguiled you."

He nodded. "I suspected as much. Do you know of a cure?"

"There is no cure, brother." Thor reached out to pat him on the shoulder. "You will be fine, Loki. I should like to meet this mortal woman who has so unsettled you."

He had no idea that he knew her quite well already. "In time, brother. Thank you again for the council."

"I am here for you, Loki. Always. However, if you transform any of my wardrobe to a hot pink color, I will thrash you."

Loki grinned. "It might be worth it."

Thor's return grin had a lot of teeth. "I think not."

"Perhaps some off-color jokes printed on your undergarments?"

Jane, who had been taking a swig of water, spit it out as she was startled into a laugh. She looked at Thor's sour countenance, and brought herself back under control. "Oh Loki. You wouldn't."

His wicked grin broadened. "Of course I would. Ask Stark to model my tailoring efforts for you."

Thor laughed again. "He had no choice. Everything he wore altered to hot pink within minutes, and labeled him your bitch. It kept disrupting our meeting. You were aware he had a public appearance as Iron Man, yes?"

"Of course. I imagine he looked quite fetching in a hot pink suit of armor."

"You may want to ensure that he has no weapons within reach when next you see him. He was rather upset."

Loki stood. "He will adapt. Thank you both for your council. I have...enjoyed...spending time in your company." He was a little surprised to find that it was true.

Thor and Jane both stood as well. "You are welcome any time, Loki," Thor told him. "We have not always held the same views or values, and I was often insensitive to how my actions affected you. I was as unyielding as any Asgardian in my beliefs of my superiority. After all, I was a warrior. You were merely a trickster who played with magic."

Loki gritted his teeth, but said nothing. That Thor was able to understand this without it being explained to him was a monumental indication of his brother's development.

Thor reached out to clasp his shoulder. "I am sorry, brother. I was not done growing yet, and I unfairly took that out on you. But know that I always loved you. At some point, I would like to see you resolve your issues with father. He did not love you any less because you were not of his flesh and blood. But he is inflexible as well, and you did not fit the mold of an Asgardian, no matter how hard he tried to force you into it. I believe that he is ready to begin accepting you as you are."

Loki's muscles clenched. "I love Father dearly, but I am not quite ready to forgive him. When I am, I will take that step." He forced himself to relax, and grinned. "Perhaps he would benefit from my tailoring?"

The expression on Thor's face was priceless. "Loki, you would not dare!" There was true fear in his brother's voice.

Surprisingly, it was Jane who saw past the jest. She placed a reassuring hand on Thor's arm. "He's just joking, Thor. You should know that by now. Loki likes to agitate."

It was nice that she noticed. "My thanks to you, Jane. I will take my leave of you both now. My situation requires further consideration."

He withdrew and sought solitude in Central Park. Alone amongst the trees, he settled in for long period of contemplation. At least it would keep him out of trouble with the Avengers.

♾️ ♾️ ♾️

I guess, I'll just update a lot of chapters a day. I'm writing, writing and writing.

I've got a lot in bag for you.

Love,
InfinityHaze ♾️