Ever since the Great Cocoa Incident, Alessa felt that she and Loki had been getting along swimmingly.

Admittedly, that may have been a 'slightly delusional' view of things, as Loki would phrase it, but the two of them had certainly been growing friendlier.

For example, Loki's glares were at least six percent more fondly exasperated than before (instead of just exasperated). And yes, glare strength is something you can measure and compare scientifically. Really.

It had led to a new stage in their relationship, one where Alessa chatted with Loki, he insulted her and gave his opinion on the matter (that it was below him), and then she mulled it over for a minute before turning off the phone. This arrangement was, of course, nearly identical to the previous one, except that Alessa left her pocket Asgardian alone within five minutes or so.

The new, feeble truce was very much hinged on Alessa not "chittering" at him for long periods of time, and Loki not… and Loki trying….

Actually, come to think of it, Alessa wasn't sure what he did differently. Maybe interacted more? He still insulted her "petty life" and ignored her for the most part.

Still, she generally prefered to approach new friendships and acquaintances with optimism, so for now she would assume that Loki was also putting out an effort in exchange for her effort at not bugging him.

He had seemed faintly more responsive recently, hadn't he? Why, just the other day he had told her that he had no less than no interest in whether she was thinking of switching from tuna sandwiches to PB&J, let alone jelly choice after the hypothetical switch.

(Alessa had replied that if he had to choose between blackberry and grape he would be just as invested.)

Unsurprisingly, the decrease in time spent talking to her screensaver led to an increase in time talking Real People. As in, living, breathing, college students who were not in her phone.

It was an odd shift, to say the least.

The first time Alessa had gone for an evening out with the girls after downloading her new wallpaper, she nearly broke into tears of joy when they chatted with her and didn't insult her 'mortality' and 'trivial thoughts'.

...Which was completely normal, right? It had been less than two weeks, and Alessa wasn't sure she had a good grasp on what 'normal' was anymore.

Although, as great as Real People were, Alessa still enjoied a nice chat with Loki over lunch. (Despite having to keep reminding herself to leave him be after a few minutes. It seemed she was more invested in this relationship than Loki was.)

But it was all worth it for the moments where they both talked. When she could draw him into conversation his comments were often insightful and thought provoking. Well, the comments that weren't jibes about idiot Midgardians.

(Well, the taunts could be thought provoking too. Alessa had actually taken to writing down the best of them, for later reuse. Of course, finding an opportunity to use the ever growing list about "mortals" would be difficult, but Alessa was always up for a challenge. Maybe she could pretend to be a supervillain…)

All this was why Alessa was completely and totally heartbroken (read: panicked) when she dropped her phone on the sidewalk and cracked the glass.

Well, she said dropped.

It had been a spectacular fall, flung at high speed from her fingers as she gestured to a nearby building. She knew it was just a phone - and an older, junky one at that - but she began to worry when the screen wouldn't turn on.

She had considered Loki a friend, despite the way he considered her an annoyance.

The next day, with her phone at the shop and her spirits in the very depths of despair, Alessa bemoaned her situation to one of her high school friends over Skype, though she did her best to avoid mentioning the Asgardian she had lost connection with.

"I just don't understand why this always happens to me!" she moaned, sinking further into her couch. "I mean, what if it's broken forever? I know I can buy a new phone, and that money's coming out of the food and clothing budgets, but I don't think it will ever be the same as having Lo- my old phone."

Tanya made a hmm sound, face popping in and out of the frame as she got settled on a couch.

"Do you have a comfort drink, at least, to help deal with the separation? Preferably hot chocolate." Tanya said. She was a big believer in the power of chocolate.

"Triple chocolate hot chocolate," Alessa confirmed, holding up the mug she'd poured it into.

"Nice. High end at least." Tanya said lightly.

Alessa sighed dramatically, throwing her feet up over the armrest. See? There was just no… no spark of interest in the tripleness of the chocolate.

No curiosity about that grand mystery.

Tanya was a darling, but she wasn't Loki, who could at least, despite his own disinterest, understand the allure.

"I miss him," she whispered, admitting it to herself.

"Miss who?" Tanya asked, perking up immediately.

Huh? Oh- Red alert! Alessa thought, Time to backtrack to avoid mentioning movie characters trapped in phones. "What, who? I never said anything about there being a guy." She bumbled.

Wait.

Tanya let out a sound of triumph over the line. "So there is a guy. Did you break up? Why didn't you just say so?"

"We weren't dating!" Alessa insisted, "we just… talked!"

"Uh-huh." Tanya said, "No, a boy. This explains it. I thought this was a bit of an over reaction for your phone, even from you!"

"Hey!" Alessa protested.

"Wait, is this like Senior year in high school when you texted a wrong number and ended up befriending that kid from Michigan? You were 'just talking' then too, but then it turned out you had a bunch of common interests and you ended up becoming-"

"Yes," Alessa groaned, mainly to make her friend stop talking, "this is quite like that. Except now I don't have a way to get a hold of him."

Tanya gave a long oooooh sound which translated directly to 'and the plot thickens'.

"You only had his number in your phone. And switching phones is already expensive and bad enough without the drama of losing contact info. Wow. I mean, just- wow."

"Yeah," Alessa agreed despondently, though in some corner of her brain she was glad that Tanya finally understood the gravity of the situation.

"Lessa, I'm sorry. I know you get attached to your random, serial killer friends you make on the internet and by texting wrong numbers."

"He's not a serial killer," Alessa corrected, rolling her eyes. She added, 'He just invaded New York in an alternate, fictional reality, okay?' in her head. "You have to stop assuming that about everyone I meet." she said out loud.

The problem, she had decided, with talking to your pocket Asgardian practically nonstop for nearly two weeks was that you got spoiled and stopped watching your tongue. In fact, she decided, I'm probably worse than ever, trying to come up with snarky or inflammatory comments constantly, not to mention blurting things out for shock value-

"I've got to go if I want to get to work on time," Tanya interrupted suddenly, sounding surprised.

"Time flies, I guess." Alessa replied with a shrug. "So... talk later?"

"Tomorrow." Tanya agreed, already sweeping her hair back into a neat braid. "And 'Lessa?"

"Yeah?"

"If it helps you feel any better, he's probably either too young for you or way too old for you." Tanya said.

Alessa took a moment to think of Loki, practically immortal, older than many civilizations. "You're probably right," she agreed, laughter bubbling up in her throat.

AN: Sorry for the wait, folks, but behold! A new chapter! Sorry there's no Loki in this one, but he'll be back next time. I'm working on the next update, and although school and I are having a bit of a disagreement about how much time I should spend writing, it should be up sometime next week. Thank you all for your support! You guys rock.