The following day, we're traveling again, this time to Xandar, District 9. It's a bit odd that all the Midgard districts weren't just all numbered in a row, instead of being split in between districts on other planets. It would certainly save a lot of travel time, but no. Instead, we will have to travel back and forth to Midgard numerous times over the course of the Champion Tour.

We reach Xandar sooner than expected, which pleases Jane. We disembark at the spaceport and Thor proposes he and Jane take Veers and I on a tour of the city. "We have some time before we must report to the Nova Prime anyway," he tells Hela. "It'll allow everyone a chance to relax a bit."

Hela lifts an eyebrow, glancing at Ronan. "Don't relax too much," she says after he gives a subtle tilt of his head. This comment is directed at me, and I understand her meaning. No matter what, I'm still to act as Veers' boyfriend.

But she lets us go.

As we leave the ship, planning to rendezvous with Hela, Valkyrie, and the Kree at the Nova Corps Headquarters at least an hour before the speeches begin, I realize exactly what this is. With Thor and Jane practically a couple at this point, and Veers and I being coerced into a relationship, this can only be one thing.

A double date.

"Brother, what is the meaning of this?" I hiss, pulling him aside.

"It gets us away from the cameras for a bit," Thor replies in an undertone.

"There will still be beings watching," I retort quietly.

Thor smiles. "Exactly, brother."

I tilt my head, giving him a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

"You're supposed to be convincing the galaxy that you and Veers are a couple, right?" Thor whispers. I nod. "Right. So far, everyone has seen you act the couple on camera, and on camera only. With the exception of Asgard and Titan, no one has seen you two in person. But today, while there will be no cameras rolling, the people of Xandar will see you and Veers out for a stroll, as a couple. It will be casual, natural, and the Xandarians who don't believe may be more inclined to believe you two love each other."

I must admit, my brother's plan is pretty decent. It surprises me, how good it is. Having the common folk of Xandar see Veers and I out and about as a couple will be more impactful than anything we do on screen. This will be unscripted – as Thor said, natural. Just us.

A double date, with my brother and his girlfriend, and me and my girlfriend.

So Veers and I go with Jane and Thor, all of us dressed nicely but casually. In order to avoid a staged look, Veers wears a black tank top and Midgardian jeans, with her hair loose and free and wearing red lipstick, and I wear black slacks and a nice white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and no tie. Thor wears jeans and a denim jacket over a dull green T-shirt and a black, halfway zipped up thin jacket, and Jane is dressed in a nice, short-sleeved blue top with white flowers sprinkled across the fabric and nice slacks, with a dark leather jacket and a thin scarf knotted around her neck. Even though this is not what Selvig and Darcy intend for us to wear tonight – at least not for Veers, I will probably be wearing a variation on this suit – it looks more natural, like we are just a couple out for an afternoon in a beautiful city.

And we actually have fun. We walk all over the city, just talking and laughing as Thor and Jane point out various sites and shops. Veers and I hold hands for most of it as we finish with a walk by the water, enjoying the beautiful view. Xandar is truly a breathtaking city, its style newer than Asgard, more modern.

Veers and I sit on one of the benches by the water, but Thor and Jane don't. "We're going to keep walking," Thor says, his arm around Jane's waist. "We'll be back before long."

Jane looks up at him in consternation, her brows knitted. "Thor," she protests, keeping her voice down. If there's one thing I can say for Jane, it's that she's ever aware of who's around and who might be listening or watching. "We can't just leave them here."

Thor looks down at her. "Of course we can. They won't go anywhere, right?" He mock glares at me.

I lean back against the bench, slipping my arm around Veers' shoulders. It's a good sign that she doesn't flinch away from my touch at all, but leans back into it, comfortably. Again, I have to give my brother credit. His plan seems to be working, and it has relaxed both Veers and I. "We'll behave, if that's what you're asking," I reply smoothly. "Don't worry, Jane. You can trust us."

Veers laughs. "Yes, Jane, you can."

Jane flicks her eyes from us to Thor and then back again, bemused. But she goes along with it. "All right. All right! But you be here when we return or I will...I'll tell your mother, Loki."

I lift my eyebrows at her. "Ooh, scary. You'll tell my mother I ran away with Veers? Did I mention that she likes Veers? Mother thinks she's good for me."

"She does," Thor tells Jane. "Veers is...how did Mother put it? The pleasant to your bitter."

"Ouch," I say, making a slight face as Veers laughs again. "Low blow, Thor."

"Well, I like your bitterness," Veers says, turning to me and kissing me softly on the cheek. Thor laughs and he and Jane walk away, Jane looking up at him like she can't believe he had talked her into going through with leaving us behind.

Veers and I sit in silence for a while, just watching the still water in the circular pool. "I'm glad we did this," Veers says eventually.

"So am I," I admit, looking at her. I almost mention how I think Thor's plan might be working but refrain, not just because we're in a public space and I don't want to be overheard, but also because I don't want to mess up our camaraderie, not after we've just found it again. It reminds me of that time on the balcony the night before the Contest, where we had spoken with no one around to watch us.

Well. Aside from my sister, that is.

Beings walk past us, giving us strange looks as if they're trying to determine whether or not we're actually the champions of the 36th Contest of Champions or not. One elderly man with white hair stops to look at us, frowning as he adjusts his glasses. "Hey, I saw you two on the holoscreen," he says, gesturing.

"That's right," I answer.

"You were on that hogwash show that got cancelled," the elderly man continues, with more enthusiasm. "Boy, am I sorry for you two. You weren't bad, all things considered."

Then he walks away, just like that.

Veers and I just stare after him, perplexed. Then we exchange a glance, not missing the morbid irony of his statement. Our "show" may just get cancelled, if we don't pull this off. The elderly man should be sorrier for us than he knows. And yes, I agree the Contest of Champions is all "hogwash," to quote the man.

"Well, that was something," I remark.

Then we both laugh and before I know it, Veers is leaning toward me and she kisses me. Before I fully realize what she did, I return her kiss. This one feels more genuine than our kiss at the start of the Champion Tour, for we're not being filmed and I'm fairly certain it was spontaneous.

Someone clears their throat and Veers and I break apart to find Thor and Jane standing in front of us, back from their walk. "Well, we didn't leave," I say before either of them can speak.

"We have to head to Nova Corps Headquarters," Jane says, wrapping her arms around herself as a wind blows in off the water. "You have to get ready for your appearance."

It doesn't take us long to walk to the building or to get ready. Veers wears the blue dress she wore last night, minus the jacket, and I wear my suit, just without the scarf. We stand before a selected crowd and a stand of cameras to give our speech.

The speech is rehearsed, right down to my lines about our loyalty to Thanos. The crowd doesn't seem to like that and begin to mutter and turn to each other as I finish speaking. But there are no outright shows of loyalty, which is heartening, I suppose.

Then comes the event. We feast and dance and barely interact with Irani Rael, the Nova Prime, or Yondu Udonta and Peter Quill, Xandar's two champions. Both Quill and Yondu seem not the happiest with us, and later in the night, I spot Yondu and the Nova Corps Denarian Rhomann Dey talking with Hela. I frown, remembering how both the Ravagers and the Nova Corps had allied with the Avengers in the Infinity War. Their conversation seems hushed and civil, until suddenly Yondu gestures in the direction of Veers and I and snaps, "That boy may be as pretty as an angel, but he sure as hell ain't one."

Veers and I exchange a confused glance before exiting the dance floor and stepping toward them just as Peter Quill makes his way over to them. "Hela," he greets. "It's been a while since you stopped by."

Hela twists her lips thoughtfully, looking at the champion. "You've grown since that skinny kid on Jotunheim, huh?"

"Still can't believe you brought a kid into battle," Rhomann Dey mutters to Yondu.

"What choice did I have?" Yondu asks. "He was on my ship. My ship was going to battle. It's not a far leap to figure out that he was going to battle, too, now, is it?"

Then Hela flicks her eyes over and sees me, and the conversation seems to die.

Peter Quill was in the battle of Jotunheim during the Infinity War?

I do the mental calculations. Peter isn't much older than I am, maybe five years older, tops. That means he would have been five on Jotunheim. Pretty young for battle.

"I wasn't the only kid there, you know," Quill mutters, but a look from Hela shuts him up.

The evening wraps up shortly after that, with me still trying to figure out why Yondu has such a problem with me when he never even said hello to me, and who that other kid on Jotunheim was.

/**/

So what did you think? We're getting to meet some of the other contenders, albeit very slowly. I hope you enjoyed it!

I'm sure you're all aware of the Loki show premiering on June 9. In order to celebrate Loki finally getting his own show after 10 years in the MCU, I'll be releasing extra updates of this book and The Dark Soldier, my other Loki fanfic, over the week of June 7-11. More details will come as we get closer!

Skylar Wittenborn