Anja moved about her room, slowly tidying things up as she listened to music that played quietly from her phone. It was all the device was good for now; being in space provided her no cellphone reception, let alone any internet. Not that she had any reason to check on Earth. What she had was a glorified paper weight, albeit one that could play music to distract her from the rest of the world for a bit.

And lord knew she needed a distraction.

Anja's mind was still reeling from the events on Jotunheim. While she was relieved the talks went smooth enough, other parts of the meeting were replaying all too vividly in her mind. The realization that her friend- a man she was growing ever more fond of- was not what she had thought he was had been more thought provoking than she thought it should've been. Not that it bothered her, exactly. Anja wasn't troubled by the fact that Loki was a frost giant, not at all. It didn't change how she saw him; despite technically being an orphan most of her life, the one lesson Anja remembered from her mother was to not judge people based upon their racial or ethnic differences, or any differences for that matter. Anja wasn't sure her mother meant to include alien species in that, but Anja had extended that to them as well. Sure, her foster parents and Spencer's parents helped re-establish that fact, but Anja thought her mother deserved most of the credit.

What did bother Anja was that Loki had seemed so troubled by it himself up until that point. She wanted to talk to him about it, but she wasn't sure how to bring it up to him. She was afraid he would close himself off to her, and all the progress they had made in their friendship would go down the drain- not to mention whatever else it had been slowly forming.

It was foolish, but she couldn't help herself.

If anything the events on Jotunheim had only proven what she had feared most- excluding the inevitable showdown with Thanos. Anja hadn't had any sort of romantic feelings for anyone since her relationship with Clint had failed spectacularly. The realization that the walls she had put up for years were crumbling, deteriorating quickly right before her eyes was eating away at her mind. It had only been just over two weeks now since she had met Loki and here she was, acting like a schoolgirl with her first crush. It was absolute insanity, and Anja knew it.

Anja cursed under her breath, running a hand through her hair as she tossed a jacket into a basket in the corner of her room. This was bad. She was in too deep already, and she didn't know if he even remotely felt the same. She could deny it all she wanted, but it was becoming too obvious to ignore. Somehow she was going to have to bring it- and everything else- up to Loki, so he could just reject her and she could move on and focus more on the mission at hand. This wasn't the time to let her feelings get the better of her, not with a war and impending death looming on the horizon.

She glanced around her room just as the song playing changed on her phone, looking for something else she could do to keep her mind busy. She had already straightened up most of her room and changed out of her heavier clothes and into a pair of shorts and a tank top for bedtime. All she really had left to do was make her bed, and then she could sit and relax somehow. Maybe read a book or something. Anything to help her de-stress.

Anja moved around her bed, adjusting the sheets and blankets accordingly as she sang quietly along with the music. She arranged her pillows carefully before she moved to the other side of her bed to pick the last throw blanket off of the floor, her back now to the door. She took a deep breath, tossing the blanket into the air as she sang a little louder.

"Like fire
Hellfire
This fire in my skin
This burning
Desire
Is turning me to sin."

The blanket came to a rest on her bed just as someone spoke behind her.

"Burning desire? Now that is interesting."

Anja froze, her heart already racing. She didn't need to turn around to know it was Loki standing behind her. The girl hadn't even heard him enter her bedroom- or him shutting the door for that matter, and she silently wondered how long he had been standing there- even though she knew it couldn't have been that long. It was still long enough to hear her mediocre singing abilities and that alone was enough to make her fiercely blush.

She turned slowly to face her friend, a small nervous smile on her face. "Oh hi. It's uh... just a Disney song- Hellfire. I realize you don't know what that is, so I don't know why I said it," she explained, trying to hide her embarrassment. She lost herself for a moment, enamored by the smug look upon his face. Anja took a deep breath, trying to steady herself a bit before she spoke again. "Did you need something?"

"I thought I would check on you," Loki responded calmly. "You've been locked in here since we got back to the ship. I thought that maybe stress had gotten the better of you."

Anja glanced at the floor briefly, not wanting to look him in the eyes. He didn't need to know she was a stress cleaner. No, not at all. Nor did he need to know he was the source of her racing mind. "I'm fine, Loki," she insisted, before she looked back at him. "I uh... just wanted to straighten my room a bit. It was a mess."

He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "If you insist; it looks pretty spotless to me."

Anja hesitated, but she knew this could be the only chance she had to bring this up privately. "Is everything okay with you? I um... think I know now why you weren't so keen about venturing there."

Loki tensed up, and a frown formed on his face. "Depends. Do you think of me as a monster too?"

It hurt, but Anja expected it. "Loki, I could never think of you that way," she answered quietly. "You being a frost giant does not change my opinion of you- not in the slightest. You're still the same person to me. Despite whatever anyone else may think, you are not a monster."

"I've heard Stark," Loki huffed, eyes looking anywhere but at her. "He would rather we didn't speak. You saw how he was at the party while we were together."

"I don't give a damn what Tony thinks. He doesn't make decisions for me," Anja assured, sounding more confident than she felt as she took a small step towards him that made him finally look at her. "I decide for myself who is and isn't a bad person. Sure, you've done questionable things, but... so have I." She took a deep breath, pausing and glancing to her feet before looking back up at him. "As I said, you being a frost giant changes nothing. You killing those people while under the influence of the Mind Stone changes nothing. I know you aren't a monster, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise."

A softer expression formed on Loki's face before he replied to her. "You've known me all of two weeks. How can you be so certain?"

It was a good point. She hadn't known him long, but she was so sure he was a good man it was unreal. It was a strange feeling, one she hadn't exactly felt before. She couldn't explain it, not to herself and certainly not to him, but she was going to try.

"I don't know, alright? I really wish I had a reason for why I have such blind faith in you, but I don't," Anja answered, trying to not let her voice betray her nervousness. "For some reason I am drawn to you, and I am both amazed and completely terrified by it."

An intrigued smile stretched across Loki's face. "Is this love, Anastasia?"

Anja honestly wasn't sure how she should answer that. Was it? At the very least it was certainly more than friendship, more than just an attraction. He had a way of making her heart race with just a glance in her direction. He made her act irrationally, made her forget about the pain she had endured before at the hands of others. Was that love?

"I don't know. Truly I don't. Things have been so dark for me for so long I have nearly forgotten what happiness feels like," Anja started, shaking her head. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself a bit. "All I know is that in the middle of all this chaos, there's you. My ray of sunshine. The person who has a way of making me forget that I have ever been broken. I can't call it love- not yet- but I would be lying if I said I didn't hope that's what it is."

Loki didn't speak for several seconds, the only sound in the room coming from Anja's phone as it continued to play music quietly, as she stared up into his eyes, the beautiful danger that they were. She felt momentarily stupid for even admitting it to him, and just as she was going to look away from him he finally said something.

"It seems as if our darknesses call to each other," he stated, a smirk tugging at the edge of his lips. "You should have spoken up sooner. We could've established this before now."

Anja blinked a few times, unsure how she should take that statement. "What do you mean? Established this?"

"Well I thought my desire for you was inherently obvious, Anja," he answered, his voice radiating his usual arrogant confidence. She couldn't resist smiling at him, at least until he spoke next and his voice was somber again. "I only feared after today you would see me the way everyone else does. I have spilled the blood of innocents, so they are right to think of me that way, and you would be too."

Anja shook her head, and the smile crossed her face again. "I think we already established that I don't, Loki," she stated calmly, despite her racing heart. "And I won't rest until I can get you to see yourself the way I do."

"And how is that?"

"You know I am struggling to describe any of this to you, and yet you press on," Anja answered, feeling herself getting more flustered by the second. "Why?"

Loki took a step towards her, leaving only a few inches of space between them, a hungry look in his eyes. "Because I enjoy seeing you like this," he responded, his voice suddenly low and husky. "You're already enchanting, but watching you unable to hide your true feelings... well, it makes it all the more difficult for me to ignore you."

"Then by all means, don't ignore me," Anja replied, her eyes cast downward at his chest, knowing if she made eye contact she would lose any composure she had left.

She felt his hand grasp her chin, slowly forcing her to meet his intense gaze as he closed the distance between them. Her brown eyes stared up into his green ones, and Anja knew instantly she was done for. This was the closest they had ever been, and feeling nearly every inch of him pressed against her was more than she could handle. Anja felt herself go weak in the knees, knowing very well any common sense she had left was long gone.

"Do you have any idea what I want to do to you?" Loki inquired, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

Anja swallowed hard, steadying herself before she gained enough confidence to reply, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "If it's anything like what I want to do to you, I think I have a pretty good idea."

Loki responded by pulling her into a tight embrace with the hand not holding her chin, catching Anja slightly off guard as he firmly planted his lips against hers. Anja brought her hands up, one cupping his jaw while the other grasped at the hair at the base of his neck, as she kissed him back with as much passion as she could muster.

Anja wasn't sure if she was just starved of attention or what, but god this kiss was unlike any other she had ever had.

His lips were cool and softer than she had ever imagined they could be as they moved in perfect sync with each other. Anja was suddenly grateful she had brushed her teeth as he entwined his tongue with hers. Moaning into his mouth, she felt his hands run down her body, grabbing a hold of her hips hard. In one swift motion, he lifted her up, his hands slipping to the back of her thighs as Anja wrapped her legs around his waist. Her hand that was resting on his jaw moved instinctively to his shoulder, gripping it tightly as he took a few steps forward towards her bed. Loki gently laid her down on the bed, a lot of his weight pressing Anja into the mattress as his kisses began to trail down her neck.

Anja closed her eyes, tilting her head off to the side to give him more room as she pushed up against him. This was not how she expected this conversation to go, but she certainly wasn't going to complain. Why would she? Her feelings were validated and she could maybe start to be happy again. Her mind had been racing all day, but now at least it was for a good reason, and all her concerns were now worlds away. Even if her friends thought she was sleeping with the enemy now, she didn't want this night to end.

*****

Hi everyone! So sorry it took me a while to get this chapter posted. I've been under the weather for a bit, and wasn't doing much other than sleeping for a few days. I just started to feel enough like myself again today, so I finally got a chance to edit this chapter! I was admittedly nervous about this chapter, so I hope it turned out okay.

So my birthday is tomorrow! I'm starting to feel a bit old, but ah well. My husband was sweet and surprised me by flying my best friend home for the week! Haven't seen her since my baby shower in July, so it's nice to have her home. :)

Also, I saw we crossed 300 reads on this story, so thank you all who have read this story! It means a ton to me!

Hope you all are doing well! And I hope to update again soon!

~arty_writes