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“I don’t know how to do this,” Sylvie admits, her voice quiet, as her eyes glance back and forth between Loki and the grass, which is damp and trembling beneath them, in this gloom void they are in. Loki has the green blanket embroidered with gold trim against him, but she isn’t so sure he’s really cold. She isn’t. He looks so put together, and she knows she looks defeated. She’s a mess.
“I don’t even know what we’re doing,” he answers honestly. He looks at her, his blue eyes sympathetic.
“I don’t have …” Sylvie stops for a moment, the words drying up in her throat as she states the truth. “Friends,” she continues, and her eyes find his again. “I don’t have anyone.” She feels strange, a good type of strange, admitting it out loud. She’s never talked to anyone about her feelings before, and it feels nice not keeping things bottled up inside for once. It's not easy letting her guard down, after all, but it’s starting to be around him. She catches a glimpse of hurt in his eyes, but he’s quick to dissipate it with a hint of a grin tugging on his lips.
“Well, you have more important things, right?” he half asks, half assures her, wanting her to feel like she does have something because she does. He inwardly cringes at himself at how unconvincing he sounds, but he’s relieved when he sees her light up.
“Right,” she says too quickly. “Yeah, like,” she’s nodding her head as if she’s confirming her thoughts, “like bringing down the TVA.”
“Saving the world, when you think about it,” Loki adds. Their eyes meet for a moment before they look off into the distance.
“Well, there’s no need to be dramatic, but yeah. Kind of,” she agrees with a breath. For a moment, she wonders if this is what it feels like, doing something actually good for once, feeling as if something good will actually come from what it is she’s about to do.
Another round of silence fills the air. The sky is ominous, and the breeze chilly as the Alioth looms in the distance. Loki glances over at Sylvie, who’s staring out at the land in front of them, fumbling with her fingers against her bent knees. He’s been where she is. He isn’t sure what to say, so he chooses to say nothing and conjures an extension of his green blanket, making the silk longer so that it wraps around Sylvie’s shoulders as well. He’s not cold really, but the blanket provides a sense of comfort, and it’s something he wants to give and share with her.
The blonde does her best to hide her surprise when she feels the garment suddenly surrounding her. She smiles as she takes the end of the blanket and pulls it tighter around her body. Her movements cause Loki to tighten his hold on his end of the blanket, and without realizing it they’ve shifted closer to each other. The sides of their arms and legs touch for the briefest of seconds before she adjusts herself and straightens out her legs in front of her.
“It’s not very snuggly,” she says suddenly as she tries to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks. “Is it a tablecloth?” A hint of a smile crosses her lips.
“No, it’s a blanket,” he replies, eyeing her beside him.
She lets out a steady breath and turns her head to look at him. “Thank you.”
Loki meets her gaze. He isn’t sure what for, but he can see the change in her features. “My pleasure,” he says, and he means every word more than ever. He watches her, watches the wind blowing her blonde locks as she looks off into the distance, watches her eyes and the way her forehead crinkles with the thoughts going on in her head.
As she looks back at him, he glances away and catches sight of her hand resting between their bodies. “How do I know that, in the final moments, you won’t betray me?”
He looks back at her, wanting to take her hand but knows the moment isn’t right. “I betrayed everyone who ever loved me. I betrayed my father, my brother, …my home. I know what I did, and I know why I did it and that’s not who I am anymore.” He isn’t surprised at how the truth flows out of him. Had it been another time and a different moment these words might have been lies, another facade. He’s relieved. “Okay? I won’t let you down,” he assures her. He wants to do anything to make her trust him.
She searches his face, looking for any hints of a lie, but she finds none. “You sure?” she can’t help but ask. She doesn’t want to, but it’s who she is, always double-checking and recalculating plans, always looking for faults and thinking of the unexpected. The nod of his head is all she needs to reassure herself, and she half-smiles. “Because if we make it and the TVA is gone, there might be a timeline for you to rule.”
“Ah.” He clicks his tongue. “And then I’d finally be happy.” His voice betrays him, and his smile is fake. He isn’t so sure of what he wants besides her being next to him. “What about you? What will you do when this is all over?”
“I don’t know,” she says, and he can hear the honesty in her voice. He expected a thought-out answer, but he also remembers the feeling of not knowing what to do when a lifetime goal is almost achieved.
“I don’t know either,” he admits with the same honesty. “Maybe …” His blue eyes meet hers, seeing the soft, caring look in her eyes, and his breath nearly catches in his throat. He could get lost in the blue depths of her eyes forever. “Maybe we could figure it out together,” he says, nearly fumbling over the words. He’s never felt this way before about anything, or anyone for that matter. It’s all still so new. The emotions and the feelings are overwhelming, and he can’t make sense of it all yet but it feels so right.
“Maybe,” she replies, her voice quiet and eyes not leaving him. She senses the pull between them and sees their bodies inching closer on their own. She feels his fingers dancing along her hand in the grass between them, almost as if asking for permission, and her hand flexes up and takes his without hesitation. His touch ignites the familiar spark she’s felt time and time again because of him, a feeling she’s never felt with anyone except for him. Of all the things she’s come across and all the plans and over-planning she’s made and done, she never expected something like this to happen to her. “What were you trying to tell me before you were pruned?” she asks in a whisper.
His hand instinctively squeezes her hand gently. “What caused you to get pruned?” he asks in return, his voice just above a whisper.
“You,” she says as she returns the hand squeeze because it's all she can say and do to keep herself from going under with him. The timing is bad - but it really isn’t - because they’re finishing what they started after destroying the robotic Time-Keepers. She knows what he was trying to say then, but she wants - needs - to hear it now.
“Sylvie.” His heart is beating fast, and just like he did then, he’s struggling to find the right words he wants to say to her. Loki’s free hand reaches up to her face, his slender fingers caressing her cheekbone before cupping her cheek. He feels the heat radiating off her smooth skin as he tilts her head up at him.
“Are you ever going to use your words?” Her lips twitch, and her blue eyes are shining. She releases the hold of the blanket and takes his wrist in her hand, her thumb rubbing the top of his hand that’s still on her cheek.
He lets out a laugh and smiles. “I don’t know what to say.” He doesn’t know how to say it. I love you doesn’t even cover what he feels or what this is. She deserves more than the typical cliché. “Do you feel it?” he asks, inching closer to her to close the gap between them.
“I feel it here with you,” she replies breathlessly. As Sylvie’s eyes flutter shut, Loki tilts his head and captures her lips with his. She surges forward, deepening their kiss. She lets go of his hand in the grass and curls her hand around his neck, her fingers cupping the nape of his neck and ebon hair.
His free hand finds the middle of her back, and he starts to pull her closer but is quickly met with resistance. He attempts to break the kiss, but the grip on his neck tightens. Loki feels himself being pulled down towards her and quickly realizes she’s leaning back into the grass. He moves his hand from her back to her hip as he rests his body on top of hers.
Sylvie wraps a leg around the back of his thigh. She breaks the kiss, but his lips don’t leave her skin. A feeling of warmth tingles down her stomach to her toes as his lips trail kisses from her cheek to her neck.
He feels her body arch beneath him and her fingers curling in his hair. He feels the heel of her shoe digging into the back of his knee, which is a welcoming discomfort, while he kisses the skin above the collar of her clothes. He wishes he took up that offer of conjuring a change of clothes, something more revealing with a lot of skin showing. He wants to kiss every inch of her, wants to feel the curves of her body, wants nothing separating them at this moment, but he knows now isn’t the place. Instead, he trails kisses back up to her lips, and kisses her deep and passionately, pouring everything he wants to say into the kiss.
As their mouths part, they both pant for air. Their chests nearly heave in unison as they both come down from their desire. Sylvie opens her eyes as she feels Loki adjusting his weight above her. She keeps her hold on his leg but relaxes her hand on the back of his head. Her hand slides down and tucks a strand of hair behind his ear, then his hand finds her wrist. Just as her hand glides down his cheek, he turns his head and presses a kiss in the palm of her hand.
Loki huffs out a laugh and grins. “I still don’t have the words, but I do know one thing. Whatever this is we have, I want it, and I’m all in,” he tells her.
“I am in, too,” she says. “Whatever we come across, we will face it together.” And it’s a promise she intends to keep.
“Together.” He leans down and gives her a quick kiss. His hand finds hers again, then he rolls onto his back beside her. As he conjures the blanket to make it longer and wider to cover them both, Sylvie readjusts and rests her head on his chest. They lie there together, enjoying the quiet moment shared between them before they continue with their task of taking down the Alioth.