FOREWORD: THAT EDIT IS SO BAD AHAHAH ALSO IGNORE THE HULU SIGN ON THAT GIF OOPSIES

eight - "now this is the story of when i met a fearsome beast!"

Mira woke up, turned around sleepily, and proceeded to scream her lungs out whilst rolling off the bed. The whole blanket turned into flames. Loki yelped and jumped out of the bed.

"Mira! Mira!" Cora came running and gasped at the sight of the bed on fire.

"Get him out, get him out!" Mira said, eyes squeezed shut. Cora tilted her head a little and saw Loki frantically patting himself down so his clothing would not burn.

"Ma'am, calm down please," Cora went over to Mira and put an arm over her shoulder.

"Should I go or..." Loki motioned towards the door, and Cora glared at him. He nodded in understanding and then walked off.

"Why the hell was he in the bed?!" Mira said loudly. The redhead winced and rubbed her ear.

"He's gone, it's ok," she said. Mira opened her eyes hesitantly and then let out a breath of relief. "That was quite a reaction." They both looked at the bed where the fire was slowly diminishing. "Should we put that out?"

"Sorry," Mira murmured. They got up and started to pat out the flames. Cora gathered up the scorched blankets, pillows, and bedsheet in her arms.

"No it's fine. But if he was your ex-lover then-"

"Remember how I told you he's not my ex-lover?" Mira cut her off. Cora nodded.

"Oh right. Well, I thought it would be fine if he slept in the same bed," she said. "Otherwise, the Grandmaster would think something was wrong."

"An 'ex' means that the two people aren't together," grumbled Mira. She began to twist the whip around her wrist.

"Yes, but I don't think the Grandmaster fully understands that. Plus," Cora added, "the tabloid news claims that you two are just hiding your love for each other and that you will eventually live in Sakaar as a happy and immortal couple."

"Wow," Mira said. "Very insightful." Cora shrugged.

"They're not very reliable," she said. Mira nodded with a little laugh.

"I can imagine."

"Well I'm going to put these away and get some new ones," Cora motioned to the burnt fabric in her arms. "Stay here. I'll be back soon."

"Ok," Mira nodded. Cora went out of the room quickly, and Mira sighed. She walked by one of the chairs and sat down, rubbing her temples. It was barely the second day of Loki being freed, and she didn't know if she could handle him at all.

~

"That competition yesterday was a real shame," Bruna coughed. "The grand champion didn't even show up. What's the fun in that?" Mira raised an eyebrow at the woman.

"Hi to you too," she said. Cora smiled brightly.

"I thought we could bring her along with us!" the redhead said. Bruna started wandering around the room, gazing towards the bottles on the shelves. Mira watched her mini cape sway around her. It sort of reminded her of Thor. "She was just in her plane, and you know," Cora leaned in to whisper to Mira, "she sometimes lays there all day without any purpose."

"Oh," Mira said with another raised eyebrow.

"Yep!" Cora smiled again.

"So...where are we going?" Mira asked, sitting back down on the (new) bed sheets. Cora looked up at the ceiling.

"Well the Grandmaster wants you to attend another party," said the Lady. Mira frowned.

"Those are so boring," she complained. Bruna shrugged.

"They are the only interesting parts in this palace place," said the brunette. She continued to walk around.

"Ok, fine," Mira groaned. "If there's nothing else."

"Well you didn't really have a choice, but ok!" Cora smiled.

"Is Loki coming too?" Mira asked with dread. Cora nodded.

"Yes."

"Ah crap."

"How come you two aren't...together?" Bruna narrowed her eyes. "Is there a secret?" Cora and Mira both shook their heads hastily.

"No, of course not," Mira said with a fake laugh. "Why would there be?" Bruna raised an eyebrow again.

"That's nice. Alright, Cora, you can do your magic," she nodded to the Lady. "I'm going to go into the hallway." She walked away without another word.

"She's like that sometimes," Cora explained with a smile. Mira nodded.

"That's uh cool."

"Ok, well time to make an outfit!"

In a few minutes, Mira walked out of the room and was being escorted to the designated VIP room by Cora and Bruna. She had another interesting outfit made by the talented maid: it was a soft, poppy orange dress with a small leg slit yet again and various gold jewelry accents. She had her hair down, minimal makeup as usual, and red lipstick. Mira thought it made her look like a very chic mom.

The thought of being a mother suddenly exploded into her brain, and she stopped walking. Cora ran into her.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" Mira apologized with her hands over her mouth. Cora shook her head and rubbed her elbow.

"It's ok, ma'am," she said. Mira sighed. "Are you ok?"

"Sort of," Mira looked down at the colourful floor. "I-I'm just worried about Kaleb."

"Who's that?" Bruna asked.

"My son," Mira said, somehow trusting the brunette. "He's back in my...home." They three were in a moment of silence that was soon interrupted. That seemed to happen a lot on Sakaar.

"Miss Goddess!" A golden sleeve wrapped around her waist and pushed her towards the room full of people. The Grandmaster grinned up at her.

"Hi, Grandmaster," Mira gave a small smile. She was not in the mood for a competition now that she had started to think about her four year old son. Loki was also in the room, crowded by admirers yet again.

"Go over and have fun with your ex-lover!" the man said. He winked at her suggestively and then walked off with a laugh. Mira cringed a bit but walked over to Loki. The people around him parted to let her pass. She nodded at them and sat down next to him.

"Why hello, dearest," Loki said, fake sweetness in his voice. Mira wanted to sprint out of the room, but she refrained from doing so. She smoothed out the skirt of her dress.

"Hello," she smiled back. "What story are you telling this time?" He raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"Why the story about the giants of course!" he laughed. She laughed with him, and the people around them cooed like pigeons. They also laughed.

"Oh yes!" Mira said. "The giants! What a great story!"

"Yes!" Loki looked up and the crowd. "Please excuse us, we need to talk for a second." The people nodded with feigned understanding (most of them were probably single, Mira guessed), and Loki gracefully took Mira's hand. They both stood up and walked to the other end of the room.

"You should be an actor," Mira commented. "You'd be great. Maybe the new To-"

"You really like to interrupt me at my best, don't you?" Loki hissed. Mira made a face.

"Sorry what?"

"I was about to woo all the people and have them give me some sort of escape route!" he said. Mira raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you liked it here," she said, eyes narrow. "From last night, it seemed to be your kind of place." He sighed, rubbing his forehead like a frustrated parent. Mira knew the pose - she had to try and not do it whenever Kaleb broke something.

"Yes, but still," he replied.

"Wait...you want to save Asgard?" Mira said, surprised. "What happened to evil and villainous green dude who wanted to talk crap about me behind my back?"

"No, I don't want to save it," Loki snapped. She looked at him. "What?"

"Uh huh." Mira patted his arm and started to walk towards Cora. "I'll be right back." She turned before Loki could make another frustrated comment.

"Hello, ma'am," Cora whispered. Mira smiled and waved slightly. Bruna was downing a drink at a nearby table.

"She's interesting," Mira nodded towards her. Cora looked at the caped woman and sighed a little.

"She's like that sometimes," she explained softly. Mira went next to the maid and stood by her.

"This party is a weird one." There was a crowd gathering around Loki again, more neon drinks were being handed out, and the Grandmaster was DJ-ing with intensity, his guard standing behind him with a stoic face.

"It is always like this," Cora shrugged. "The Grandmaster rules everything."

"Oh dearest!" Loki called. Mira put on a smile.

"Stay here and be my emergency girl," Mira whispered to Cora. The redhead nodded with a little smile. Mira walked over, as elegantly as she could, to the black haired god.

"I am telling a story, would you like to listen?" he asked politely.

"Of course!" she nodded. She went to sit down near the back of the crowd. Her brain was yelling at her that this would probably be a bad story, but she tried to ignore it.

"Now this is the story," Loki started, "of when I met a fearsome beast!" Some Sakaarians gasped. His face had the lines of a great storyteller. "It was a female, and she was dressed in all black! She had a golden weapon and horrible spheres of flame!" Mira raised an eyebrow. The Sakaarians looked scared.

"Oh boy," she mumbled to herself.

"She was one of the most irritating creatures I've ever met," Loki shuddered. Mira rolled her eyes and huffed in her seat.

"I'm not that bad," she muttered to herself again.

"And she talked about herself greatly!" he added. Mira crossed her arms. "She leapt aboard my ship and tried to kill me!" A couple alien women put their hands over their hearts in shock. "However, she did not succeed and I triumphed by kicking her off! She was never seen again." The crowd sighed in relief. Mira was fuming inside. Her whips sparked out on her sleeve, and the necklace around her neck was glowing a bit. Loki glanced at it for a moment. "The beast was a loud-"

"Ok!" Mira interrupted, standing up. "How interesting!" The Sakaarians glared at her. "Well, my love," she spat the last word, "I'm tired and so, I'm leaving. See you later!" She waved with fake cheerfulness and walked quickly toward Cora.

"Anything wrong, miss?"

"Let's leave this dump," Mira said with a small sigh.

"Fine with me," Bruna said behind them. She hiccuped, and Mira rolled her eyes again.

"You're going to get a hell of a hangover," said the Asian.

"I don't get those," Bruna grinned.

"You sound like someone I know."

~

Mira was in her room thinking, aka stressing about Kaleb and how the babysitter was doing. She hoped that Strange had picked a good one. She also hoped the babysitter was NOT Strange. The last time that happened, Kaleb was covered in some sort of outer-dimensional goo because he had asked for a slime like what he had seen in videos. Strange had apologized, but Mira still was bitter. It had taken a whole three hours to wash the little boy.

Sometimes she was grateful for Stephen Strange. Other times, not so much.

"May I come in?" said a voice from the open door. She looked up from picking at the blanket and saw Loki leaning on the wall.

"Sure," she said, looking back down. He walked over softly and sat at the edge of the bed, his cape touching the floor.

"I...how are you?" he asked awkwardly. Mira took a breath.

"Fine and dandy," she answered. "You?"

"Same as you," he said. There was a silence.

"So why are you here?" she said, still picking at a thread.

"I think I'm supposed to stay here." He looked around the room, glancing at the bottles and paint splattered walls. "It's...quaint."

"Yeah," Mira laughed a little bit. Loki turned back to her.

"I...I am sorry." He said it as if it was hard to form the words. She looked up.

"What?"

"For the story. I..." he paused, "regret saying it." She gave a small smile.

"It's ok."

"Really?" He looked surprised.

"Yeah." Mira pulled at the string. "We're enemies. I wouldn't expect anything else anyways."

"Oh." There was another pause. Loki scooted close to her and sat next to her when she made no protest. "So...we are in this mess together?"

"Yeah. I mean, there's also like Cora and Bruna but otherwise," she shrugged. "Yeah, it's us." She leaned on the back of the bed, and he did the same.

"This place is interesting," he said. She laughed.

"It really is. Sorta reminds me of New York though."

"Your mortal cities are no match for any alien cities," Loki scoffed. "Even this one." Mira smiled.

"We're never going to be friends, huh?" She turned to look at him. His eyes shone in the light. Had they always looked like that? she wondered.

"Apparently not," he replied. Mira rolled her eyes once more. He moved closer to her. They sat like that, shoulders slightly touching and broken souls slowly connecting. Loki turned to look at her and wondered if the magic was affecting his vision. He shook his head to himself. Mira sighed to herself.

"I wonder if Kal is okay," she mumbled.

"I'm sure he's fine," Loki said, a small smile on his lips at the memory of the little boy. She looked up towards him and noticed how close they were. They slowly inched forward. What in the HELL are you doing?! Mira screamed at herself. They were about to touch when she felt his hand touching her whip. She looked down, and he pulled back his hand quickly. Mira narrowed her eyes. Loki looked down at Mira's wrist, a tint of red on his cheeks.

"I need your whip, that's all," he said softly. She shook her head in disbelief.

"That's all I am?" she said. "Just a whip? Not even a person?" Loki shrugged a bit hesitantly.

"Sure," he said.

"So you were going to kiss me and then take my whip?" Mira threw up her hands. "What the heck, Laufeyson?!"

"You were going to...kiss...me, mortal!" Loki protested.

"Hell no!" she scoffed. "You're gross. And my name is Mira!" She folded her arms. He raised an eyebrow but got an idea.

"What if I looked like this?" he said. Mira looked up, and her stomach dropped. In front of her was a Caucasian male with light brown hair and large eyes. He was wearing a flannel and a smile.

It was David. David Mark.

Mira turned away before her heart could break anymore and laid down, pulling the blanket over her nightgown.

"No. Not even like that," she whispered.

She didn't see Loki transform back. She didn't see him look down with guilt and walk away softly.

~

the aNGST

(also someone suggest dynagreen and i'm crying)

(OH AND i added david to the cast so yay fun times)

(last note: sorry this chapter kinda sucked; it's a bit of a filler)