Chapter Text
It was Jane’s second trip to Asgard, and Darcy's first. Even so, even though Jane had been exposed to this ridiculous glittering, obscenely shiny world before, Darcy could hardly understand how Dr Foster kept her cool. How she walked past the highly opulent furnishings and detailed, CGI-tastic architecture. How she didn’t stop to smell every perfect flower on every beautifully sculpted path. How she didn’t just faint at how freaking Narnia—perfect every fucking detail was.
Then again, Darcy also didn’t understand how Jane didn’t spend every waking moment jumping Thor’s bones. Maybe it was just her, but Darcy would have been tapping that every chance she got.
But that was Jane. Refined, science mad. If she and Darcy were both at a fancy restaurant for dinner, she’d order a stunning salad sprinkled with mangoes and beautifully prepared butterflied chicken, expertly flavoured with stardust or whatever. Darcy would choose to order the most wickedly decadent thing on the menu. And enjoy every bite. And maybe go back for seconds.
And yet despite these differences – and definitely despite Darcy's runaway mouth – she and Jane were inseparable best friends. She wouldn’t be without the good Doctor now. And Darcy was beside herself with bubbling excitement to be accompanying Jane on this freaking mind-blowing field trip, complete with full board.
A few days into this science trip, Darcy was pottering about on one of the Palace rooftops – who knew how many there were? – fiddling with some telescope attachment that she and Jane had been working on for months. Maybe years. They had tested it on Earth plenty of times, but neither Jane nor Darcy could pass up the chance to test all your equipment on another world. Some of the stuff went haywire, the sensors fracturing, letting out high pitched whining noises or cracking upon exposure to the Asgardian air. Others took to it like ducks to water. In this strange environment, Darcy practically squealed with excitement every time she had a chance to set up an experiment.
As she fiddled with the dials on the telescope attachment, peering up through the eyepiece, Thor stood with Jane by the stone balustrade. They looked a picture, Thor pointing out constellations in his deep baritone, his arm around the petite scientist, their heads close together.
If anyone had ever wondered what the inspiration behind Hallmark was, Darcy was looking right at it. They were all soft sighs, googly eyes, hand-holding. They practically had little bluebirds and floating hearts circling around their heads.
Darcy was thrilled for Jane. Really. She had waited long enough for this. For happiness, for adventure, for something other than living in that poky trailer, eating only granola bars and drinking Gatorade – when she remembered to eat or drink at all, that was.
“Sickening, isn’t it.”
Darcy's head came up so fast that she narrowly avoided clipping it on the telescope. “Jesus," she groused. "Warn a girl first, would ya?”
More carefully this time, she turned, unsurprised to see that the origin of the voice was Loki, Thor’s brother. As dark and lithe as Thor was golden and built, he stood, half in shadow, underneath one of the many Palace balconies. Darcy had seen him around a few times, his face of plane and angles unwillingly drawing her interest. If Thor was a gourmet beef burger then Loki was a sliver of 28-day aged fillet steak. He possessed a rare, hard beauty that reminded Darcy of a panther in the shadows. All coiled power, held lazily in check, to be released at any time, keeping its prey constantly on guard.
“Where,” he drawled, “Would be the fun in that?”
His silky tone made her mouth water. Down girl, she chastised herself silently.
She would bet her bottom dollar that he knew how to have fun. All kinds.
Especially the horizontal kind. If her brain were a movie right now, it would be R rated. Possibly even banned. The book of the film would be sold in plain brown paper so as to avoid scandal.
“Do you mind? I’m busy doing science,” Darcy heard herself say, making her tone more annoyed than she felt. “On the strangest field trip of my freaking life.”
She barely heard the fall of his boot soles as he moved towards her. “Asgard pleases you?”
“That’s the understatement of the year.” She made herself turn back to the eyepiece, and pressed her free hand to her heart to stop it hammering. “This place was made to please. Better than if you made an entire palace out of Reese’s Pieces, filled it with oiled male strippers and gave me unlimited free entry and calorie free wine.” She paused, aware that you’d started babbling.
Loki looked at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. “You are a constant source of puzzlement, Darcy Lewis of Midgard.”
“Yeah well, your face is a constant source of puzzlement,” she replied automatically, never accustomed to not having the last word in any conversation. She immediately cringed. She'd be on to “your mama” jokes next if she wasn't careful. She re-doubled her efforts into the telescope, but he didn’t move. He stood so close. She could feel the heat coming off his body and it made her tingle with awareness every-fucking-where. Right down to her toes.
“I think you misunderstand,” he said softly.
Darcy glanced over at Jane and Thor. They were still a good few feet away, wrapped up in each other, like a couple of Care Bears riding on sunbeams. Thor would be Lionheart, obviously, she thought. They’d be no help in rescuing her from Loki’s attentions. And… Besides, she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to be rescued. Against her better judgement , she was ... curious.
“I like puzzles,” he added. The sexual undertone to his words was impossible to miss.