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Darcy's head peaked around the doorframe, finding Loki eyeing the break room treats of the day.
"There is nothing deemed as worthy sustenance in this receptacle for nourishment," Loki droned.
"Well, we can't all have the catering staff of the gods," Darcy replied with a smirk. She had moved to stand in the doorframe of the break room. "Lucky for you, you're friends with a mortal who knows food," she said as she held up a picnic basket tauntingly.
Loki appraised her and her basket, raising an eyebrow.
Darcy dropped her arms in a huff, "ONE TIME! I burned popcorn in the microwave ONCE. Besides, you just can't win with popcorn. Even with following the instructions, the popcorn burns or not enough kernels get popped."
Loki smiled slightly to himself as he remembered that night.
Darcy smelled the burning before the timer ran out, running to the microwave with the utterances of "fuckfuckfuck" being heard as she passed. She returned with a little less than half the bag of popcorn. "At least it's not like college. Firemen would be breaking down our door right now," she muttered as she passed him the popcorn.
"So, are you in?" Darcy asked, holding up the basket again, "Or would you prefer to try your luck at refrigerator roulette?"
They arrived at the park a little after 3. This meant, to Loki's displeasure, that the park was full. Children, pets, mortals displaying sentiment (or as Darcy called it PDA) a barbecue, mortals purposely burning their skin, and some were even throwing a circular disc back and forth... There were mortals everywhere.
Darcy looked around nervously while searching for a place to set their stuff down. While Loki had taken a liking to her, it didn't mean he liked the human race as a whole. She just hoped that they made it through this lunch without too much chaos.
She found a tree, a good distance away from the hustle and bustle of the every day park life, and set up their picnic blanket.
"Why must we dine upon the ground when there are perfectly good tables to consume our comestibles at SHIELD?" Loki inquired.
"I just needed some fresh air," Darcy replied as she laid out the plastic wrapped food and fruit.
"And don't think I didn't notice, Mr. Thesaurus. You're only allotted one free pass a day to lord your extensive vocabulary over me." she reminded him, "Any more than that, and I'll make you regret it."
Loki feigned a look of innocence and replied, "I am merely repaying your kindness of showing me your Midgardian customs and culture with the opportunity to expand your vocabulary."
"Riiight. I'm all for learning new words. But comestibles? Really? 'Food', 'nourishment', or just informal 'noms' are the only words I need to describe my desire for edible things in this era." She finished by taking an exaggerated bite of her apple, staring out at the open space, people watching.
Loki rolled his eyes, "'Nom' is not a word, even according to your dictionaries."
Darcy smirked, "Remind me to introduce you to Urban Dictionary." Her smirk turned into a full on grin as new thoughts occurred, "And I'm going to have to record that moment too. Documenting a moment when you might possibly break Silvertongue's brain is a moment worth sharing on Tumblr." She laughed at the thought before taking another bite of her apple.
Loki looked at her curiously, then narrowed his focus on the apple in her hand, and as he picked up an apple of his own, he asked, "Are you sure this fruit is sanitary? I've heard there can be worms hidden inside." He looked from his apple to her, smirking.
She finished chewing, swallowed, and said, "Nah. Most farms take preventative measures when it come to maggots or worms, and if they look like they might be infested with them, they don't sell them." She eyed her apple. "I have heard horror stories though, but that's from the internet. There are always trolls on the internet trying to freak people out," she said, reassuring herself, "Nice try on freaking me out, but you're going to have to try harder than that."
Smirk still in place, he replied, "Oh, I shall aim to do better, dear Darcy."
Darcy narrowed her gaze on him. She could've sworn she saw a twinkle in his eyes just then. As she was trying to figure out his mischief, she saw movement out of her periphery. She turned to look and saw a worm wriggling from her apple! Darcy dropped it with a shriek and kicked it away from her for good measure while trying to get the non-existent bad taste out of her mouth.
After a few minutes of recovery, she looked over at the soon-to-be dead god and said, "Asshole."
Loki, eyes still glistening with amusement, shrugged and simply stated, "God of Mischief."
Darcy picked up another apple and looked at it muttering, "Do I dare ask?" She eyed Loki, and as she tossed him the apple, she said, "I'm not sure I'll believe you, but I'm going to ask anyway. Do the rest of these apples have worms in them?"
Eyes smiling, Loki took a bite of the apple and chewed.
"Ok... I've lost my appetite anyway. I'm just going to throw these in that grouping of trees over there." She got up, took the remaining apples, and said, "Be right back."
Loki smiled, looking from her to his apple as she walked away. It had been some time since he had enjoyed bits of mischief. He began to reminisce, remembering the last time he pulled a prank, but stopped himself. That way lies madness, he thought. The last time he remembered pulling an honest to goodness prank was before Thor's almost-coronation. So much had happened since then.
Lost in thought, he rolled the apple around between his hands, first looking at it, then staring through it to the last time he held an apple. He wondered if he would ever get to bite into its golden flesh again.
Darcy had returned while Loki was staring at the apple intensely.
Forgetting his prank, she looked at him thoughtfully. Maybe apples weren't the best idea, she thought, scrunching her lips to the side. They seemed like a good idea when she was packing the basket, something to lead into cracking that shell of sorrow.
She internally shrugged, sighed and started talking as if answering a question, "When I was 14 my parents took me on vacation to a summer cabin they borrowed from a friend." As she talked, she stared into the distance, searching for the memory as her words wove the tale, "It was in the middle of nowhere with no cellphone service or internet. I thought they were just trying to wean me off of my obsession with technology and electronics." She laughed to herself. At that time, Darcy was just starting to get interested in computers, but she hadn't had anything devious in mind (yet). "Turns out they were looking for some family bonding time and thought it would be the right time to tell me I was adopted."
Loki looked up at the sudden divulgence.
Darcy continued, "We were sitting around a campfire. I don't even remember what was said exactly. I just remember feeling lost and confused, trying to remember things I probably never knew." She started to tear up, "I remember running in the woods because I needed to be alone. As much as I wanted their comfort, I couldn't look to them without seeing everything I didn't bother to notice before. Being out there, though, gave me time to process different things. After I was done crying, I just sat there, listening to the sounds of nature and let it lull me to sleep." She paused to wipe away the tears that were still forming. She hadn't planned on getting emotional with this confession. The point was to let Loki know she could sort of understand.
"Did you forgive them for keeping it from you?"
Darcy blinked out of her trance. She had hoped, but she wasn't entirely sure Loki had been listening.
"Eventually," Darcy provided. "It took some time, with a little teenage rebellion mixed in, but we found a middle ground and worked our way from there."
He nodded, but didn't reply, lost in thought.
They sat in silence for a time. Though Darcy's mind was racing with a few hundred questions and comforts she was dying to say, she was glad of the silence. Silence meant reflection, she hoped.
Their silence was interrupted by a cry off in the distance. A little boy had been pushed to the ground as he raced an older boy (presumably his brother) to the swings. Apparently the older boy didn't consider pushing cheating. Their father shook his head, but did nothing to quell the sibling conflict.
Loki heard Darcy tsk next to him, but she made no other comment. They continued to watch as the older boy swung while the younger boy sat and frowned. He had just reached the maximum height of his swing and was on his way back down when suddenly the chain snapped! The older brother landed with a "Oof." Little brother stared in shock briefly before laughing at his brother's misfortune. Loki smirked, another act of mischief well-done.
"I saw that."
Loki raised an eyebrow in challenge as he looked at her, "Do you object?"
Darcy was smiling. She didn't fault him for his actions. And it didn't take a genius to figure out why that particular injustice caught his attention.
"No, I just think that's pretty low-grade mischief for a god," she teased.
A woman was rolling by, talking on her phone, with her dog on a leash trailing behind and going as fast as it could to keep up. A wisp of green caught the dog's attention, causing it to go the opposite direction of it's master. The woman had been in the middle of lifting one of her legs to hop over a stick, so she lost her balance from being pulled he opposite direction and fell. Having been disoriented, the leash slipped from her grasp. The dog chased after the wisp past the swing set and through the clearing, running over sunbathers, and caused a frisbee catcher to trip. The wisp lead the dog up onto the picnic table of barbecue foods, and into the punch bowl next to the PDA couple, splashing punch all over them.
Darcy looked from the mass chaos to Loki, a look of shock on her face.
Loki smirked, "You were saying?"