Another serious conversation

[st_ratagem]

The hunting trip had been a good idea. It had taken Loki the better part of a day just to collect enough gold, adulterated and not, and refine it into purity sufficient for real jewelry. Crafting the ring itself had taken almost eighteen uninterrupted hours, and the end result still wasn’t exactly... fancy. Mostly matted to brown, so that the gold shine was all in the decoration and inside the band. Lack of sleep was probably the reason he’d taken an extra hour or two to inscribe something partway between a poem and a spell on the inner band.

No, the ring wasn’t especially fancy, but it was actually heartfelt, which was unusual for anything touched by the god of mischief.

Once it was done, though, he could only wait for Valkyrie to come home and see what openings he could find or make to actually... ask.

She’d been gone two nights, this was the third day. During the day, Loki went through his usual clinic hours and activities, but early evening found him settled in front of the fish tank with a book that he was pretending to read. Waiting.

Comments

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie slotted her back to fit against the much taller man’s front, not questioning the affectionate outpouring but simply enjoying.

“How were the kids?” She enclosed the musculature of his arms with her hands, giving them a massage.

[st_ratagem]

“Subdued by temporary loss of their goddess. I told them you were on a grand journey to the underworld and would return when they’d proven themselves worthy.” Loki kissed her shoulder, then shifted to swing her into his arms and carry her to the tub. She wanted to wash, after all! “Clipped Fin promptly made a habit of disrupting the Cult’s meditations on their rock. She crashed into them so they scattered, and did it again as soon as they returned, over and over. Make of that what you will.”

[st_allionofdoom]

Balancing easily in Loki’s grip, she watched him as he recounted the tale, noting each little inflection and expression. There was no agenda—just the simple pleasure of being with him. There was something abuzz about him.

“And of the hermit?” She hooked her arms around his neck.

[st_ratagem]

“Nothing new. Either he was planning something or felt he has nothing to prove.” No wonder Thor wanted to carry people or be carried, it was a literally-moving embrace. The bathroom wasn’t all that big, though, so sooner rather later Loki had to set down at the edge of the tub so he could start running the water. “I suspect the former.”

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie peeled off what little she had left and flicked them in the corner, crossing her legs as the water filled the tub. “And not a murmur yet. He’s playing the long game, that one.” After 5 months, he’d shown enough flashes of cunning and wielded a formidable ability to keep score to make her confident in her assessment of their intelligence.

[st_ratagem]

“Long games are often the best ones.” Short games were entertaining enough, and had their place, but couldn’t have the ultimate payoff of something longer. That principle was why Loki restricted himself to admiring her body with his eyes instead of his hands: the immediate gratification passed in favor of focus on the larger aim.

He settled nearby to wait for the water to fill the tub. For all he didn’t want to be talking about Thor, curiosity asserted itself. “What did you and Thor talk about, in your talking too much?” How well had Thor done, really, at secret-keeping?

[st_allionofdoom]

"I'd be lying if I said I remembered it all." She'd been in-and-out the latter two nights and remembered well enough to say that Thor hadn't been at all better. "New game to hunt. New weapons to craft. Weddings--his, namely. Then Sakaar and how many other planets there are out there that aren't trash heaps."

[st_ratagem]

“Fairly standard, then.” Perhaps Thor was owed some form of apology, for Loki’s doubts. Not that he’d necessarily actually apologize, of course.

He trailed fingertips in the rising bath water to test temperature. Warm enough, he thought. “I can safely promise not to talk about weapons or game for a while.”

[st_allionofdoom]

"He did seem more..." Excited? Awkward? "...like himself during." As Loki inspected the tub, Valkyrie inspected a rubber ducky that always re-appeared at the outer edge, giving it a sharp squeeze between her fingers.

[st_ratagem]

"Excited to be outside roaming, I imagine." He knew that wasn't why. "My brother isn't especially suited to a quiet, slow existence." Just to see what she'd do, Loki pulled his fingertips out of the bathwater and flicked droplets in Valkyrie's direction.

[st_allionofdoom]

"Are any of us?" Making a show of protecting the ducky from the onslaught, she lowered it towards the bath behind her back--and brandished its newly bloated body like a pistol and shot off a jet right at Loki's face.

[st_ratagem]

Loki immediately jerked back, not that it got his face out of the line of fire, then threw up a hand to mostly redirect the water back into the tub with a laugh. Another reason to want her: she cheerfully responded to 'attack' in kind, with escalation. "I don't know, I thought you and I were managing well enough."

[st_allionofdoom]

Satisfied, Valkyrie shot the remaining ammo up into the air like a fountain. She leaned back to test the temperature of the water--cooler than she usually liked it, but welcoming given the sweaty treks she'd been out and about on. It was nearing the line, and she slipped one leg in, and then another, fully submerging her body and wetting her hair.

"Incredibly." She sunk back against the sloped end, clearing the wet curtain of hair from her face. "Certainly not what I imagined when I first saw you sitting there by the temple."

[st_ratagem]

"Likewise." To the extent he'd thought about it, he'd marked her as something like a new Lady Sif - a comrade of Thor, someone with whom to maintain civil terms while remaining wary and untrusting. But then, of course, she was virtually nothing like Sif except in the very broadest terms. "But I have to ask if you imagined anything at all."

[st_allionofdoom]

"Imagined? I'm not sure." Valkyrie nudged the rubber duck on its own path through the water with a finger. "I knew enough about you to hope for camaraderie."

[st_ratagem]

"And now here we are." Well past camaraderie. Loki leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead. It wasn't likely that he'd get a better opening, even if Brunnhilde being naked in the bath wasn't exactly ideal.

Well, she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't exactly romantic, and this was better than dithering about it. "Marry me."

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie looked up to the man perched close by. The duck softly wheezed where it’s beak hit the edge of the tub.

[st_ratagem]

"I'm not talking to the toy duck, dearest." Loki flipped a hand at it dismissively, keeping his eyes on her.

[st_allionofdoom]

Mouthing something unintelligible, Valkyrie pushed up straight to sit, hair resting flat over her shoulders.

“Marriage.” Proper marriage? The question was written on her face.

[st_ratagem]

"Yes." Questioning wasn't a no, and that was a good sign. It also wasn't a yes, but Loki had expected a certain amount of skepticism. Only a fool took the god of mischief at face value, and Brunnhilde wasn't a fool.

He was glad he'd thought to have a ring on hand to prove his seriousness as he pulled a folded piece of silk from over there and moved the cloth to display the ring.

Simple gold, matte so the design and edge gleamed bright, and the line of runes on the inner band showed dark. "Marriage.'

[st_allionofdoom]

The 'how' and 'where' and 'why' remained unasked. She looked to the ring, the golden etchings and the of the runes that made distant memories prickle at the back of her consciousness. The water rose to her collar and she reached somewhere behind her to shut it off.

'Yes. She thought, putting all of the brothers' awkwardness into a context. 'That makes sense.'

That makes sense.

The idea of marriage to this man? However unexpected, on the basest of levels, it felt right. Her shoulders loosened and sunk towards the water. Even as the reality closed back in on her, she gave herself space to think.

If she said 'yes' now, what would change? Titles, surely. Something in herself.

"How long...?"

[st_ratagem]

"How long what?" Loki watched her carefully, tuning in to her feelings as best he could. Uncertainty, certainly, but shaded positive. Maybe. "How long has this been pending? A week or two, though I may have started considering after our day at the beach."

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie hummed, clearing her hair away to fall smoothly down her back. “So have I.” She drew up, slipping a hand behind Loki’s neck to draw him into a long and lingering kiss.

[st_ratagem]

Loki kissed her back, enjoying the intimacy while also trying not to be pulled off his perch into the water. "Is this a yes?"

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie sunk back into the water—nodding for Loki to join. “There’s room enough for two.”