"Are you sure no one will notice?" I ask, worriedly stumbling behind Loki as he leads me through the market in the village near the palace. It's crowded, busy, and chaotic. The place is buzzing like a beehive, and I have trouble to decide where to look first. Theres everything - from fishermen selling their freshly caught fish, tailors praising their cloaks and tunics to more obscure things like the old man that is carving otherworldly creatures out of white bones and a girl about my age dressed in colorful clothes performing what looks like some kind of magic everytime a little bronze coin is being dropped into her hat.

"No." Loki assures me. "As long as you stick close to me, no one will notice us." I think it's funny how he says 'us' as if whole Asgard knew me and would instantly recognize me and not Loki, who is the prince of this place. "What?" Loki stops, and I bump into him when he abruptly stops to turn to me. I can't see his face under the hood of his cloak, but I know he has one eyebrow raised at the giggle that has escaped my lips. "Nothing." I smile, forgetting that he can't see it.

When he first handed me the simple cloak and told me to hide my face under the hood, I was concerned that we'd stand out, but Loki was right - this was the perfect disguise. There were so many strange creatures and people, we blended perfectly with the rest of the village. "Hmm." I can hear his grin when he humms as he turns around and keeps walking. I stop him at a small stand with foreign looking fruits. My eyes are wide as I look at the rich colours.

"What are those?" I ask Loki, stunned. I should have known that plants would be different here than they are on earth, but I never really thought about it. Now, the foreign shapes and colours are blowing my mind. "Those are fruits." "I know." I roll my eyes. "Then why'd you ask?" Loki chuckles, knowing exactly what I mean and smirking to himself. "You know what I mean." I whine and poke his side. He pokes back, and when I'm busy poking him again, he gives the salesman a little coin and gets a little parchment bag in return.

I curiously try to peek inside, but Loki quickly stashes it away somewhere in his cloak, chuckling playfully when I poke his side again. "What did you buy?" "Fruits." He laughs when my finger pokes him again at that dissatisfying answer. He grabs me by my waist and pulls me away from the stand, holding my hands to my sides so I can't poke him anymore. "I will show you -" My eyes lighten up, and I look at him expectantly. "Later."

He ditches my next attempt to poke him and takes off towards another row of stalls. I hear his laughter as I chase after him. Seeing the black fabric of his cloak vanishing in the mass of people, he suddenly is gone. Huffing and rolling my eyes, I slow down, wandering in the direction where he had vanished only moments ago. I turn around a corner and suddenly find myself in a less crowded space. It looks like the end of the market, and there's hardly anyone around.

I start wondering if my eyes had betrayed me and it wasn't Loki's cloak I had seen when I thought he vanished behind that corner, when I suddenly hear his familiar chuckle. One moment later, I feel myself being pressed against the back of a stall. A large smile spreads on my face before I stab my finger in his side and poke him again.

Dark, rumbling laughter erupts from his throat before he catches my arms and pinns them to my sides to prevent me from any further poking as he pulls off my hood to pull me into a passionate kiss that has my eyes fluttering close. Every thought about being seen or recognized is washed away by the earth-shattering passion that lies within this kiss.

I don't even notice that Loki teleports us away as I give in to his sinful advance, indulging in this display of affection by pressing myself into him and opening my lips the slightest bit for his curious tongue. An arm wraps around me, and I feel his other hand tangle in my hair, coaxing me to open my eyes. Our eyes lock, and I can't bring myself to look away. His gaze is intense, burning with desire, ferocity, and love that has my knees buckling.

"By the gods, Y/n." He growls when I break away, panting heavily, my cheeks probably flushed pink. He rests his forehead against mine for a moment before pulling me into his arms, where I bury my nose in the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent and letting it calm me down. "I love you so much." He whispers as if he is admitting a crime. "Hm." I smile. "I love you too, you know."

He chuckles and peels me off him. My breath catches when I take in our surroundings. It's a small lake at the edge of a cliff that grants a beautiful view over the nature of Asgard. A waterfall from further above is constantly pouring water into the nature basin. I kick off my shoes to feel the silky sand under my feet and pick them up as Loki takes my hand to lead me to a set of rocks near the crystal clear water.

He sits down and motions for me to do the same before his hand vanishes in his cloak, and he pulls out the brown parchment bag he had bought at the fruit stall earlier. My eyes light up when he hands it to me and waves his hand for me to open it. As expected, there is a selection of fruits in there. It looks as if Loki has bought a small amount of everything. To my surprise, they're still cool despite being inside Loki's cloak.

At second glance, they don't really look different than the fruits from earth. It's only the colour that is different and two different kinds of fruits Loki had bought had a foreign shape. I lean against him as we enjoy the little treats while feasting our eyes on the beautiful sight before us. The fruits taste otherworldly good - maybe because Asgard is another world - and I'm sure I will never be satisfied by the fruits on earth ever again.

I don't feel the time ticking by as we sit there, snuggled up and caught up in the moments of proximity. The chirping of birds and the sounds of the waterfall are oddly comforting. Lokis finger are drawing little circles on my back as he's absentmindly staring at the somooth surface of the water, his chin resting on the crown of my head. His unique scent of leather, parchment, and something exotic invades my mind and leaves me feeling loved and happy beyond everything I ever thought possible.

I lean into him, and my eyes flutter closed when his other hand moves to play with my hair for a moment before his fingertips start gently massaging my scalp. Only when the sun starts lowering itself behind the dense line of trees, Loki adjusts me in his lap. I don't remember how I've ended up there, but I don't mind. He's been unusually quiet this entire time, and I figure that he's been caught up in his own mind.

"We should return to the palce, darling." He gently suggests. I open my eyes to glance up at him, reluctantly climbing off his lap. My gaze wanders over the water, and I tug at Loki's sleeve. "We should come back here someday. I really want to swim in this lake with you." He smiles and nods. "We will come back. Now come, love." He takes my hand, and a wonderful warmth spreads through my whole body. Love.

Loki doesn't teleport us back. We walk through the dense forest, the last light of the day lighting the way and leading us to the golden towers of the palace that looks as imposing as it does in broad daylight. Loki has matched his steps to mine, his big hand securely clasping around my smaller one as he leads me through the now nearly abandoned marketplace that was buzzing with people earlier.

We don't bother hiding beneath our cloaks this time. The few people that are still there, emptying their stalls and closing for the night, don't pay us much attention and the two people that recognize the youngest prince are not doing anything else than quickly bowing to him before resuming their work.

Back at the palace, we enjoy dinner in the silence of Loki's chambers. Only a few candles are burning, illuminating the space in a dim, golden light that has shadows dancing over the walls. "I think this is the most beautiful place I've ever seen." I tell Loki when we sit on the balcony of his bedroom, a glass of red wine in our hands as we watch the stars in the night sky. He has an arm draped around my waist as I lean against his side.

He chuckles and presses a kiss to my forehead. "Everywhere where you are is a beautiful place." He whispers, and I feel his thumb rubbing small circles on my back. His words bring a smile to my face, and I gaze up at him, placing my head on his shoulder. I smell the whine on him. It lingers under his usual scent, a sweet addition to the leather and parchment that I'm so used to by now. But something seems not right. He looks... sad.

"What is wrong, Loki?" I ask, suddenly concerned. He's often been elsewhere with his mind in the last few weeks, but in the past few days, he's been absentmindly more often. Sometimes, I even had to address him several times before he would respond. "Nothing." He replies, but when I reach out, he has blocked me out. I sigh and take a sip from the sweet wine.

Loki has done something with it. The alcohol would have knocked me out within minutes after the first sip if he hadn't thinned it out with some grape juice and water. "You know that you can talk to me, right?" I softly ask, reassuring him that he doesn't have to be alone with whatever is occupying his mind. He nods but does nothing else than placing his head on top of mine. I sigh. I know there's something, but I won't pressure him to talk.

His thumb resumes the gentle cirles on my back, and I figure that he'll talk to me when he is ready. It doesn't matter if it is tomorrow, next week or in a few months. The peaceful silence is short. There's a knock on the heavy door to his quarters and when Loki doesn't respond immediately, it opens and a servant slips through, closing the door and walking straight up to us after spotting us on the balcony.

He ignores the fact that he's obviously disturbing a very intimate moment, clearing his throat and addressing Loki without giving me any further glance. "Your majesty, the allfather has requested your presence in his office." Loki glares at the young man. "Tell him I'll meet him in the morning. I'm busy right now." The servant shakes his head, and I realize that he must be of higher rank amongst the servants. Most servants I've seen would have bowed and retreated at this point.

"The allfather insists on seeing you know." Loki rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed by the servant's persistence. He carefully disentangles from me. "I'll hurry." he promises me and then follows the servant. I sigh and take another sip of my wine before scrambling off the seat to fetch a blanket. Without the warmth of Loki's body, the night air is quite chill.