eight - "jk rowling is an actual goddess, ok?"

Mira sighed as the competitors bashed each other into the wall. The crowd cheered. The whole routine of these competitions was getting a bit repetitive. Her eyes drooped a bit - she had stayed up most of the night trying to explain the concept Harry Potter to Cora.

"Are you ok, Miss Goddess?" a Lady asked. She put on a fake smile and nodded. To be honest, she was wondering where Banner had been. She hadn't seen much of him other than that one time with Lady Acacia. The Lady smiled and then walked away, leaving Mira half asleep once again.

"Ma'am, can you come this way?" Cora suddenly whispered in her ear. Mira jumped a little bit but then got up.

"Thank god, I was about to fall asleep," said Mira, as Cora escorted her out of the room. The redhead nodded and smiled.

"I could tell," she said back. Mira rolled her eyes but yawned a little bit.

"Where are we going?" she asked. Cora steered her into another hallway, and Mira recognized it. "Hey this is my room! I'm getting used to these hallways." With that, she turned, thinking it was her room, and promptly walked into a wall.

"Are you ok?!" Cora said, hands over her mouth to cover her horror and also her laughter. Mira rubbed her forehead.

"Uh yeah," she said. Cora turned her the other way.

"That's your room," she said with a smile. Mira sat on the bed once they went inside. She jumped a little at the sight of Bruna wandering around her room at the glasses of amber drinks.

"Oh hi Bruna," she said awkwardly. Bruna nodded.

"Hey."

"So..." Mira looked at the two, "what are we doing today?"

"Well we could sneak you out and into the city..." she started. Mira brightened up.

"Yes! I NEED to get out of here," she said. Cora put up a hand.

"Well, there is one condition."

"Which is..."

"Loki has requested to come."

"Is that the man with the...hair?" Bruna said, unimpressed and arms folded. Mira nodded.

"Yeah. I think so?"

"He is annoying. Let's go without him," the brunette said shortly. She turned back around to the bottles.

"Someone gets me! Thank you!"

"But he did ask rather nicely, Mira," Cora objected. "And plus, he is all alone here too. You have to spend some time with him. Bruna and I will be nearby, so you have nothing to worry about." Mira internally groaned but found that she couldn't argue with Cora's soft smile.

"Ok, fine," she mumbled. "Can we go now?"

"Sure!" Cora smiled bigger and began to walk out of the room.

"Cora, doesn't the goddess need some clothes?" Bruna asked, folding her arms again.

"Oh right!" Cora said. "Sorry!"

"No problem," Mira laughed.

A few minutes later, the three walked out into the sunlight of the city. Mira had a slight disguise again but not as drastic as the one from last time. Loki had also joined them, to Mira's dismay. She tried to take her mind off of him.

"This city is amazing," she marveled. Mira looked around herself from the tall makeshift skyscrapers splattered with various colours to the people dressed in cloaks (some in ragged clothing), and to the planes flying up above their heads - it was all a huge, dangerous, yet chaotically beautiful mess of a place.

"I disagree," Loki muttered under his breath. Mira kicked his shin. "Ouch."

"You better not ruin this for me," she shot back. He rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut.

"I'm glad you like it," Cora said cheerfully. "So Bruna and I have to go to a market for something." She motioned to the other woman. "We can meet you back in front of the Grandmaster's building in a bit?" She smiled at Mira, who was shaking her head.

"Um...we agreed that I would not be alone with...him," she whispered, pointing to Loki. He was looking around the different stalls of food and weaving.

"I'm sure you will be fine, Mira," Cora patted her arm. "What's the worst that can happen?" Mira was about to object when the redhead cut her off. "Bye! C'mon Bruna!" The two women walked off into the sea of people, and Mira gazed helplessly at them.

"I know you hate me," Loki said. She turned around and saw him looking at her. She rolled her eyes.

"That's an understatement."

"Well, we have this whole day to ourselves," he cleared his throat. "Want to wander around?" Mira considered her options. Unfortunately, there weren't many: either try and find Cora by herself and leave the god of mischief wandering the city or go with Loki and possibly have fun. She sighed.

"Let's go on an adventure!" she declared, trying not to sound dejected. Loki smiled at her and held out his arm. She rolled her eyes but held onto it. "How come you're acting gentleman-y now?"

"You underestimate my nice side," he said with a joking tone. The two started walking deeper into the city.

"I thought you didn't have one."

"Exactly."

"You're very confusing, Laufeyson."

"Thank you." He flashed another smile, and Mira couldn't help but laugh a little. "I heard there is some sort of racing competition downtown."

"Sounds fun," Mira grinned.

"I was thinking the same thing."

~

Mira laughed as Loki raced around the track in makeshift speeder, finishing the race in first. Some Sakaarians grumbled and handed her some alien money. She grinned at them and ran to meet Loki downstairs. She saw him getting off the racer.

"Look how much we made! Damn, you're good at flying!" she exclaimed, showing the money. "I mean, to be honest, I don't know how much this actually is because it's not dollars, but! it kinda looks like a lot!" He laughed, and the two walked out of the area, avoiding angry looking aliens.

"I bet we could buy something," Loki said, smiling down at her. He wondered if her eyes had always been that...twinkly.

"Oo!" Mira's interest was piqued. "Food?" Loki shrugged.

"Well what about-"

"Ok!" Mira interrupted, grabbing his arm. "Food it is!" She dragged him to a nearby market, and he groaned.

"Stop dragging me around, mortal," he grumbled.

"The name is Mira! How many times do I have to say that?!" she said back. They stopped at a vendor, and she peered at the alien food. "Is street food even safe here?"

"Probably not."

"Let's get some!" she said with a grin. He sighed and handed over money to the alien while Mira pointed to some cups of strangely coloured chip-looking things.

"Why are you so happy, mortal?" Loki asked with a small frown. The pair started walking more slowly around the buildings to take it all in. There was bright cloth hung on wires above their heads, aliens shouting at them from their stalls, and an occasional blue hologram of the Grandmaster.

"I'm not," she said, cheerfully. "I'm just trying to not think about Kal, you know?"

"Your son?" he said. She nodded, a bit dulled.

"Yeah. I'm kind of stressing about him on the inside. Because like," Mira explained, "I kinda left him with one of the most irresponsible people I know?" She sighed and ate another chip. "I just hope Strange didn't hire a bad babysitter or anything." Loki nodded.

BACK IN NEW YORK

Stephen Strange opened the door to see a teenage girl with short brown hair and all black clothes looking down at her phone. He cleared his throat, and she looked up, clearly bored. She pulled out one earbud.

"Hi, are you the uh babysitter?" he asked awkwardly. She looked him up and down. He hoped that the new suit wasn't too much.

"Wow, you're rich," she said in a British accent that was also laced with an Irish one. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "And yeah, I'm a babysitter. Where's the kid?"

"Over there," he pointed. She came in, and Kaleb peeked out his head nervously.

"Hey, little man," she smiled kindly, taking out the other earbud. She slid her phone into her pocket and put her backpack down. Strange noticed there was a pin on it: MIDTOWN SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECH. Kaleb ran off into his room, and she looked at the older man. "Well he's a shy one. You're the da?" Strange blushed slightly and shook his head.

"Yes. I mean-uh yes he is shy, and no I'm not the father."

"So what're you doing here with this kid...?"

"I'm watching him for his uh mom, she has a uh a business thing. Anyways, I need to go to my work in a few minutes. It's very uh important stuff," he said, still awkward. The teenager shrugged and flopped onto the couch, pulling out some homework.

"Alright, I'll see you later then Mr. Strange. Don't worry, I won't like burn the house down or anythin'. Just pay me once you get back." She started typing on her laptop. Strange shuffled to the door, not sure if she really was as good of a babysitter he had seen in the ad in the supermarket. He hoped Mira wouldn't burn down his curtains again.

"I'll see you later, Ms. Jackson," he waved. The Brit nodded back, distracted. Strange went out the door and shook his head. Teenagers these days.

BACK IN SAKAAR

"Well! That food was better than expected!" Mira exclaimed, throwing their cups away. It had been a couple more minutes of walking around, and the sky was beginning to darken. Loki nodded, still a bit shocked at how good the snack had been for such a rundown planet. Mira looked around. "Maybe we should go back now. You think Cora and Bruna are waiting for us?"

"Maybe," he said. Mira shrugged and started to grab him to go back through the crowds. "And here comes the dragging."

"Yep!" she said, with a grin.

After a few minutes (ok, it was actually a lot of time because the two kept getting lost), they finally arrived back at the Grandmaster's palace. Loki was rubbing his forehead.

"Are you ever done talking, mortal?" he asked. Mira shook her head.

"Hey! I was just about to get to the prisoner of Azkaban!" she said in protest. On the way, she had been trying to summarize all the Harry Potter books to yet another person. He sighed.

"And who is that again?"

"I can't say!"

"It's probably Sir-" She cut him off with a loud yell. He jumped a bit.

"How did you know?!" she said, mad. He shrugged.

"It's a bit obvious. You're not good at explaining..." She huffed and crossed her arms as they walked down the hallways.

"I am! What are you talking about?"

"I figured out who Quirell was too. It's H-" She shouted out again.

"STOP! SHUSH!"

"You've already read the books!" Loki threw up his hands.

"Yeah BUT!" She pointed to the people around them. "They haven't! Spoilers!" Loki facepalmed.

"Mira, you realize these people will probably never read it, right?"

"A girl can dream," she grinned. "Anyways, which house do you think you're in?"

"What?"

"Hogwarts house! Duh!" she said, exasperated. He rolled his eyes but thought about it.

"Slytherin," he said. "Because cunningness and cleverness. They also seem to like snakes and mystery, which I find appealing."

"Yeah I agree with that," she nodded. "You're very green. OR! Maybe you'd be in Hufflepuff." Loki scrunched up his face.

"I strongly disagree. But what about you?" he asked back. She answered immediately.

"Gryffinpuff."

"Uh..."

"Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," Mira grinned. Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't Hufflepuff's uh nice?"

"Hey! We can be badass too, geez!" she slapped his arm. He winced.

"Ouch."

"Take that, Slytherin."

"I still think this book series does not interpret magic very well," he commented as they walked past more rooms. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, JK Rowling is an actual goddess, ok? So shut up." She peered into one of the rooms. "Oo can we go in there?" He looked into the doorway and followed Mira onto a balcony.

It was beautiful. The balcony was more of an alcove and was circle-shaped to be sheltered from the wind. There was a small metal railing that overlooked the sparkling city. At night, it looked much more impressive, he had to admit.

Mira leaned over the edge a bit, holding onto the metal, and the wind blew her hair to the side. She grinned in delight.

"It's gorgeous," she said in awe. Loki nodded.

"It's ok," he shrugged. She rolled her eyes again but then sat down, leaning on the railing and still gazing out into the city. He sat down next to her and noticed her hands were hugging her arms. He pulled her salmon-coloured sweatshirt out of thin air and handed it to her. Mira was surprised but took it, putting her arms in it halfway.

"And when did you start to care about me?" she teased. He shrugged but smiled, also gazing out at the glowing Sakaar. They stayed in silence, only interrupted with shouts from the crowds and planes flying, until she spoke up again. "I miss home."

"You mean New York?" he asked.

"Yeah. I miss Kaleb."

"He's a good child," Loki comforted. "I'm sure he'll be fine." Mira laughed a little bit. There was another pause.

"He misses his dad a lot, you know," she whispered. The raven-haired god felt the urge to put an arm around her. He didn't.

"Why?" he said. She shook her head.

"Well, David used to be around a lot and took care of Kal a lot when he was younger," she explained. "It was hard to tell Kal that-that his dad was never coming back."

"Where did you two meet?" Loki questioned. Mira took in a deep breath of the fresh air.

"College. We used to be best buds." She turned to him. "Do you guys have like Asgardian college?" She laughed. He shook his head.

"I was born naturally intelligent," he said. She raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever." A pause."This city kinda reminds me a lot of NYC."

"Skyscrapers, obnoxious drivers, and a superhero," Loki listed. "I do see similarities." She laughed.

"Hey, you actually called me a superhero."

"Well we are enemies, so that's what you are called," he said. They lapsed into another pause.

"So...you're a villain, then?" she asked softly. Loki nodded.

"Of course."

"Oh."

"Is that...bad?" he said, confused. She shook her head, a bit too quickly.

"No no no. It makes sense. And it's not like we're-we're friends or anything, you know?" He nodded.

"Yes. Exactly. We are clearly enemies."

"Yep. I'm the hero, and you're the villain. We can't be friends. That'd just be weird." She gave a short laugh.

"Yes."

As they sat in the cool breeze and the noise of Sakaar, the two felt that something about that phrase was somewhat wrong.

Could heroes be villains? Could villains be heroes?

~

OK SO

SO I'M REALLLLLLY TRYING FOR THIS STORY TO BE A SORTA SLOW BURN LOVE STORY AND NOT INSTANT LOVE BUT I KNOW THAT LIKE THEYRE ACTING MORE FRIENDLY ALL OF A SUDDEN AND AHH IT KINDA BUGS ME BUT WHATEVER IT'S FINE LOKIRA/MIROKI/DYNAGREEN IS CUTE OK

also does anyone know who ms jackson is ehehehehehEHEHEHEHEEH (go check out my upcoming peter parker fic if you haven't)

alsoooo i made mira gryiffinpuff becasue

1) that's what the majority of yall said AND 2) i think it fits her personality a lot (even though tbh if she went to hogawarts, she'd prob be like divergent)

LOVE YALL

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE ABOUT MWAHAH