Darcy was dripping with sweat. Earlier that week, the weatherman had predicated that the city's temperatures would reach into the hundreds, and boy was he right. One-hundred and one, to be exact, but her apartment was probably hotter. Today, out of the rest of the three-hundred and sixty-four days of the year her air conditioning chose to break down. She felt like a turkey on Thanksgiving Day and her apartment was the hot oven cooking her slowly. Half of the city must've been experiencing the same difficulties considering that no matter what HVAC technician she called, nobody had the time to come out to her house.

A mental debate ensued about whether it was worth it or not to actually leave the apartment. It was probably the most practical solution for her predicament, finding an air conditioned establishment. The problem was getting up off the floor. Getting off the floor would mean losing her only source of mild coolness and relief, and what if she actually made it outside and was forced to wander around in the sun. She'd be dripping!

Much to her chagrin, Darcy was all alone. She was experiencing this heat all alone. Nobody to complain with, nobody to take turns shoving ice cubes down each others back for heat relief, just... nobody. It's not exactly as if she had invited anyone over, so expecting a friend to just pop over unexpectedly was highly unlikely. More than ever, Darcy longed for her best friend, Jane, to burst through the door with popsicles and a handyman in tow, but Jane was living in London now, not enduring through the pains of no air conditioning. In fact, it was probably raining in London and-

A noise came from the front door as if someone were messing with the lock. A million possibilities ran through her mind; It could be the building owner coming to save her from her misery, it would be any of the six people whom she had given a key to her apartment to, or it would be a serial killer breaking in. Either way, Darcy was quite aware of her unwillingness to move from her spot on the floor.

"Darcy?"

Darcy immediately relaxed. She knew that voice. Thankfully, it was not a serial killer. Well, actually, it was someone who harbored no interested in killing, at least. "I'm in here," she called weakly, hoping her strained, water deprived voice reached from her bedroom to the front door.

After deciphering was 'in here' meant, the sound of flip flops slapping against the hardwood floor grew louder and louder until they reached her location. Darcy lifted her gaze to meet the piercing, emerald optics of her incredibly handsome boyfriend.

Loki smirked, and eyebrow curiously lifting at the sight of his girlfriend sprawled among the floor clad in just a skimpy bikini. He found himself ogling as his feet brought him further into the room. Kneeling beside, Loki shook his head and did nothing to refrain from laughing. "Should I be concerned?"

"Incredibly."

"What are you doing?"

"It's freaking hot, man," Darcy whined, licking her dry lips. "The floor is cool. ...Well, was cool." She huffed.

Loki pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. "Is this not a situation requiring the use of an... air conditioner?"

Usually, under any other circumstances, Darcy would commend her alien boyfriend on his knowledge of modern technology since it had become a goal of hers to get him completely up to date. But she was currently preoccupied with slowly melting into a puddle on the floor. "It's broken," she spoke bitterly. But just as the words rolled off of her tongue, an imaginary light bulb popped above her head. Darcy had a brilliant idea.

"You can cool me off!" Before he could react, Loki found himself toppling over onto his backside, the weight of Darcy in his lap pinning him down. She cupped his cheek with her palm, then release a sigh of content. In recent cuddling experiences, she had come to realize that her boyfriend was her own humanoid-ice cube. Honestly, she could believe she hadn't thought of this earlier; One call and Loki would have been over there in a heartbeat!

Noticing the expression of confusion he sported, Darcy laughed. "Turn into my super sexy smurf and cool me off."

Again, Loki raised his eyebrow. Ever since revealing his true identity and the appearance it cursed him with, Darcy seemed to think it cute to call him a blue, mythical creature from a television show. At first he hadn't the slightest clue what on Midgard a smurf was, but after Darcy had pulled up an old episode of the show on YouTube, Loki would said he was less than amused.

"You mean my Jotun form?" Loki corrected, earning himself an eye roll. "I believe I am sufficiently cool to satisfy you." He took a hold of her hands and brought them up to his neck, a complacent smile gracing her features as he did. She had to agree that he was indeed cool enough, but she had to take full advantage of this opportunity.

Slowly, one hand slid down to the hem of his shirt and lightly tugged at it. "We should definitely lose this." Dead serious, Darcy nodded while Loki snorted. More skin exposure meant more chill, right?

"As you wish, my lady."

In one fluid motion, the black tee he wore was shed and carelessly tossed to the side. Darcy happily cheered, re-positioning herself on top of her boyfriend to comfortably lay with her head buried into his bare chest and her arms pressed into his sides. Instantly, she felt relief. The contrast between the floor and its limited solution to her heat predicament and her Frost Giant boyfriend was incredible.

Suddenly, she felt a shiver travel down her spine. Darcy blinked, lifting her head to figure out why she had just gotten significantly cooler when she notice that she was no loner cuddling against a flesh-colored body; Instead, she was cuddling against a body of deep blue in color. Her own cerulean oculars met with eyeballs the color of fresh blood that were staring back down at her.

"Is this better?"

Nodding profusely, Darcy pressed a soft kiss to his jaw before settling back down. "You're the best." To herself, she smiled. Nearly half of the city was suffering from heatstroke, probably. It occurred to Darcy that Loki probably could've done something to fix her air conditioner, but laying atop her freezer-like boyfriend was so much better.

She had a God for a partner; A freaking Jotun! Nobody in the world had that.

Not even Jane.

"I know."