Refusing Silverware

Achievement 9: Things Going South

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Author's Note : So to let most of you know, this brain child was just something I had no intention of ever actually developing past like six chapters, but a plot semi-formed. I have the chapters planned out, to what end I have yet to tell, but I am hoping you all enjoy the ride as I write it. I do enjoy hearing feedback, immensely. It helps fuel the creativity even more. So thank you to everyone who is reading this and those who choose to leave a review!

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"C'mon, Max. When do we get the time to go out and a day off the next day? For the both of us?" The rich girl whine that Caroline Channing was known for was beginning to drown out Darcy Lewis's stubbornness. Ever since, Loki had eaten her chocolate dick cupcake, Caroline seemed to be even more annoying, claiming that she wanted to know all about when Loki was going to take her to the side and screw her brains out, not that Darcy hadn't thought about it a million gazillion times in her head.

"You and I both know the answer is not enough and right now, this is too much." Darcy groaned as she laid on her couch, reading the latest magazine that she had stolen from the nearest, not so bed-bug infested hotel lobby. Having an evening where Caroline and her didn't close at the diner, then come to her apartment and bake until 3 am, then go to bed and wake up, and do it all over again, was a miracle. Han had actually closed the diner fully tomorrow, mostly due to a much needed fumigation, and Peach was out of town with the twins over in Aspen, Colorado for the winter weather.

"Stop being a party pooper! I was able to snag us an invite to the newest club." Darcy frowned to herself, trying to get engrossed once more into the magazine's particularly trashy article on whether or not Captain America was really an immortal vampire and that his good manners were only due to him being one. Caroline put her tiny tickets in front of the magazine, waving them in Darcy's face.

"How again?" Both tickets were VIP tickets and were assuredly out of her and Caroline's budget. Darcy leaned her head back to look at her grinning, ever optimistic coworker and fellow business woman. Caroline, for all she was worth, tried her best to look sheepish.

"Does it matter?" Darcy shrugged, thinking on that. It really didn't matter. Caroline was her own person and did well enough when she was given a crash course two years ago about how to be poor and live with it as well as Darcy did now. If for anything, Darcy really did trust that Caroline was careful enough to not be swooned off her senses any more by any low-brow men or taken for granted.

"If you're turning tricks, just let me know if I need to get you a clown costume." Darcy laughed inwardly at the very idea that Caroline Channing, used to be number one socialite would put on a clown costume at all, but since Caroline had met her, they had done dubious costumes for money before. It wasn't that far out in left field for them.

"I don't think the circus pays well." Caroline tapped her chin in thought, standing back from Darcy's head on the couch as she thought about it.

"So you've looked into it?" Darcy teased her ex-roommate, intent on simply playing with the jest when she stopped for a moment to consider Caroline's serious face as she looked away from Darcy.

"For a cupcake stand." Caroline finally admitted after a few moments. She peeked back at Darcy to see her best friend give her a smile, one that didn't judge. A slow smile crossed her face when Darcy didn't say anything about the idea.

"As long as I get to honk something if we do." Darcy sat up, putting her magazine to the side before glancing up at the blonde. Chuckling, Caroline shook her head at the image. Darcy would have no issue honking the clowns for all they were worth.

"The clowns creep me out though." Crossing her arms, Caroline admitted what Darcy believed must be fully true. They were creepy, but it could be more so that she had watched 'It' enough times to memorize the scenes and the lines from the movie from when she was a kid.

"Anything looks at you wrong and it creeps you out." She chimed at Caroline, standing up to grab a cup of coffee, and to mostly avoid bringing Caroline back to the idea of going out to a club. If Darcy could avoid Caroline's puppy eyes, then she would be able to deter this entire outing.

"Max, you're avoiding the subject." To her annoyance, Caroline immediately went back to the bone she had been trying to pick with Max since Han told them to go back to their apartments earlier that evening. Darcy tried to think on anything but Caroline's shrill rich girl whining. Measurements danced across her mind.

"Max, please come to the club with me." Caroline leaned forward, peering in front of Darcy's concentrated look that was broken quickly as soon as Darcy realized how close Caroline was and how close Caroline's long blonde hair was about to be in her coffee, something she could not have.

"Please come to the club with me and….? Make it honest." Darcy teased, leaning against the kitchen island, looking at her best friend. Darcy knew the real reason for all of this. Caroline hadn't had a boyfriend in a few weeks and no hooks through tinder either, something she mentioned occasionally when out of earshot of Oleg and Sophie.

"And help me get my smash on." Caroline gave out a giant sigh, grumbling as she muttered her real reason for wanting to go out to a club. Darcy, considerably so, was a great wingwoman and had helped Caroline in a few particular times with handsome and almost out of reach types since she became poor. Caroline Channing's name was still dragged in the dirt, but at least those who hadn't known her too well, quickly learned that her best buddy endorsed her, if only to get Caroline's nagging off her back.

"Fine." Darcy gave up as Caroline's pouting was somewhat annoyingly adorable, much like a puppy who ate the sofa and got caught. She downed her mildly-warmed coffee and began heading past Caroline who squealed in happiness, hugging her tightly.

"You won't regret this!" Caroline jumped and clapped her hands out of happiness leaving Darcy with the imminent feeling that this was definitely going to turn out awful. She hated clubs as it was always hard to find an exit through the mass of bodies and they never gave out the wifi password.

"Are you sure? I get the feeling I already do." She grumbled, shrugging off Caroline's strong arms to head into her room and find something, somewhat suitable to wear.

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"I can't believe we have been getting free drinks all night! I need you to start smashing more rich blondes." Darcy laughed, though Caroline barely heard it as she waved at the cute blonde doctor she had been making eyes with all evening. Since Caroline had eye-flirted with him earlier, once they walked into the door and up to the VIP section, the two women had been supplied with drinks almost non-stop.

"I don't date myself." Caroline giggled as she took another heady drink of her cosmopolitan. A weird rule if Darcy ever heard one but everyone had preferences. To be honest, it would be completely ironic if neither of them got free drinks. Caroline was svelte with her dress tight, but certainly classy. She winked and waved every once in awhile at a few guys that seemed to catch her eye over by the bar.

"Lies. I believe some mornings you would marry your reflection if it had more money." Darcy wasn't too bad herself, she would admit. She had worn, perhaps, the only clubbing dress she had. It was a green halter dress, which pressed her cleavage in tight with the belt in the middle accenting her curves. For a club dress, it was modest enough to stop above her knees, which Darcy was thankful for. When she demanded to wear mostly flat comfortable boots, Caroline stubbornly gave in that it went well with the green dress, so Darcy got to look good and feel comfortable on her feet at the same time, a rarity for going out.

"Speaking of rich blondes, I think that one has you on the menu." Caroline leaned over, tapping Darcy's shoulder and pointing to a woman in a slinky gold dress at the bar who seemed to be staring into Darcy as if she was a pot of melting chocolate. Darcy blinked owlishly once she looked up from her phone, where she had been guessing the wifi password again, striking out for the fifth time. Instantly, her face felt hot at the attention and something sizzled on her tongue from any retort she could really come up with at the full blow of the woman's green eyes on her. Those eyes were as green as Loki's in the club light.

"Oh god, she's looking." She whimpered, more to herself than to Caroline, despite hearing her friend's laughter at the remark. It wasn't unheard of for Darcy to take to women. She liked both well enough and Caroline had commented more than once that unlike herself, Darcy hadn't taken a lover in months, not since Mr. Tall, Dark, and Megalomaniac appeared for cupcakes.

"Maybe you should flirt and then we can get some more drinks." Winking, Caroline finished up her cosmopolitan and looked at Darcy's sex on the beach. It was almost empty, waiting to be refilled, and when she looked up at the woman across the way, Caroline could tell that she was going to come over with the amount of eye-fucking the woman was giving her best friend.

"I don't want to flirt! I want to watch cat videos! I told you to get the password from the DJ and you only brought us more liquor." Darcy was panicking as she felt her insides twist into a dangerous whirlpool of desire at the blonde across the way. The woman in the gold dress was amazingly tall and lithe, and looked as if she was a model that belonged on Vogue, all things out of Darcy's league.

"Max, you can watch cat videos at home!" Caroline snorted, starting to get up with her empty glass to head back to the bar and to schmooze up to the blonde doctor that had been ordering them their last two rounds.

"Which is where I wanted to be, if you remember." Darcy hissed, grasping onto Caroline's wrist with nervousness. She looked up at Caroline with a plea in her eyes that her friend seemed to enjoy toying with, if her smirk was anything to go by.

"Well, she's right h-Hey there!" Caroline waved with her other hand, holding her clutch. Darcy felt her heart drop into her stomach as the blonde woman that was just so very out of her league stood in front of Caroline and her with a sensual smile on her crimson lips that spelled pleasure with promises.

"Hello, I couldn't help but notice that you look a bit out of the water." The blonde's smile reminded Darcy too much of a crescent moon in the night sky in the middle of New Mexico, as if it was the only thing to light up the world. She swallowed thickly, trying her best to stop her nervousness from rising and her flummoxed tongue to work.

"Y-Yeah? I thought I was playing it off well." Chirping up in her defense, Darcy tried chanting to herself to keep it cool, play it cool, let it go, Elsa. The last part almost made her snort out loud, but the blonde in gold had her attention, whether or not, Darcy could find it in her to look away.

"I'm Amora." The name rang a bell but right now, her mind was smitten with the very sound of Amora's voice and how honey seemed to flow from each word. The feeling of being teased with excitement was drawing her in, but Darcy blinked as her heart tightened in her chest. It was not from excitement, but a dark feeling of dread. There was something wrong but yet everything seemed fine. She was getting straight hit up on by a golden goddess.

"M-Maxine." Stuttering, the brunette could feel herself burn up from the inside at her hesitance to tell Amora her real name, even more the fact that she hadn't come up with a 'club' name in case she had to hide from someone pursuing her. There was a sense that she should trust Amora with it, but caution was winning out of the race between desire and wariness as her heart tightened in some form of fear she could not name.

"And I'm heading out! Have fun, you two!" Caroline shook her hand from Darcy's fingers and waved at the two of them before heading towards the doctor at the end of the bar that she had been flirting with earlier. It felt like in a room with so many people, with Caroline leaving her with Amora the flirtatious beauty, Darcy was by herself in space amongst the stars for all it was worth.

"Don't come back until you shagged him or with more drinks." Darcy called out to only receive a half-hearted wave in return from her best friend, who barely heard her over the music. Amora chuckled and set a drink on the table for her, at least, Darcy thought it was for her, while she drank hers and sat beside Darcy without invitation. This was going to be a long night as Darcy fought one side of her that wanted to lick the woman from head to ankles, while using her hands to make the woman call her name out, and the other that was screaming out to run away and to not let Amora even come close.

"DJ Riley is something else, isn't she?" Amora turned to lean over, speaking close enough that Darcy didn't have to fight the music to hear, but not close enough that they were touching. It was intimate without breaking the boundary of touch, something that made Darcy innately shiver on the inside. There was so much teasing with just the air that left Amora's lips brushing against her ear. She turned her head to look at the DJ playing 4 Non-Blondes with wild blonde, almost white hair with a singular blue streak in it. She was legendary according to some of the people who had spoken at her earlier when Darcy had tried to get the wifi password from them.

"Oh, you know the DJ?" Smirking, Amora seemed to slide in that dress, coming closer to the blushing mess that was one Darcy Lewis.

"Her shows are passionate. I go to most of them when I can." Darcy nodded slowly, knowing that Amora probably could afford to fly to her favorite DJ's shows wherever in the world they were without issue, especially with the obvious gold rings on her fingers, well manicured nails, and what Darcy believed had to be obvious Louis Vuittons on those feet.

"No, I mean, do you know the DJ personally?" Darcy hoped she could hide how much she wished for a distraction, mostly from Amora's attention as her body seemed to want Amora to touch her for all its worth but her stomach and heart was dripping cold at the thought, as if everything would implode if she did.

"Maybe." Amora frowned, scrunching her face just so that Darcy couldn't tell if it was because of her question or more so, that she wasn't immediately turning her attentions fully to the blonde. It seemed as if Amora was used to having every bit of attention that she wanted, as if she could command a room by just entering the doorway and the fact that Darcy wasn't in fawning adoration over her was a puzzle.

"Does maybe get me the wifi password?" Deflecting was Darcy's number one way to save herself, so she automatically followed through. She had been wanting the wifi password and if it kept Amora talking, even better. If Amora kept talking and not touching her, Darcy found that was easier to handle than the unbidden terror that seemed to grow stronger at the thought of Amora idling her hands against her skin versus the wanton need for it.

"You don't really fit in around here." Amora leaned back, making Darcy breath a sigh of relief that she didn't know she was holding in. The brunette eyed the woman beside her with a bite to her lip. Amora really was something else, like a sun-kissed model on her vacation on the beach. She had long legs that seemed to be from a runner's physique and her shoes, golden winged sandal heels that Darcy knew to be from Sach's and Fifth, only enhanced the fit woman she seemed to be. God, why was Darcy such a useless bisexual right now?

"I'm usually in bed at these hours, you know." The blonde smiled at Darcy's gaze, drinking in the attention easily. She shifted, making Darcy almost groan inwardly as Amora's slinky dress slipped up on her hip, showing a bit more of her upper thigh. Oh god, Darcy thought. Amora was going to think she was a pervert. Not that she wasn't a shameless one normally, but for some reason, Darcy really didn't want Amora to think anything wrong about her.

"Oh? You are?" Amora's words felt like they wrapped themselves around Darcy, crooning with honey-tinged syllables. Any amount of the unbidden terror seemed to draw itself away for a moment as she felt her lips grow into a soft smile when she turned to look up at Amora's green eyes.

"Yeah. I work three different jobs and if you didn't know it, I also bake cupcakes. I currently bake them only for Ma-…." She stopped herself, immediately feeling the need to shut up, that she was telling too much of herself. A voice whispered to her, harriedly, warning her with a direness that Darcy did not realize she could hear. Her tongue wanted her to talk more, to speak honestly about who she was, what she was, why she was, but the dread that she had been fighting won out. Darcy never trusted someone like this, especially someone she met who could have any one in the club. Her hackles rose immediately.

"I could help you relieve some of that tension. You're strung higher than cat in a rainstorm." Amora raised her hand towards Darcy's bare shoulder, where her long dark hair spilled across. Immediately, Darcy backed away, more on instinct than anything else. Amora seemed to peer through Darcy, exuding an aura of displeasure at her moving away that she smothered with another quick smile.

"Huh. Well, I doubt that. I'm not much of a seafood vendor most days, but I really don't feel like it tonight." She pulled her hair behind her ears, a nervous habit she had never been able to kick, as she looked away from Amora. Everything, even the part that found Amora completely enthralling, wanted her to run now. She was cautious for a reason and the sudden desire to trust a stranger so strongly that she began talking about her life openly, was something that never happened. SHIELD could be watching and that mantra had been a constant in her head since she ran from Agent Coulson three years before.

"That's a rather strong way to refuse me." Amora's frown was just as beautiful as her smile, Darcy quickly decided but with her frown, and the aura of displeasure that she seemed to unknowingly throw out, Darcy knew it was time to follow the voice inside her heart and get the hell out.

"Sorry, Sapphic Jones, but I am one temple of doom you don't get to explore tonight." Darcy stood up, moving around the table to the other side of the booth, away from Amora. She smiled sheepishly at the blonde, who gave her a look that spoke volumes of danger and definitely exciting lust behind it, that only made Darcy feel even more that she was making the right choice to leave. Making her way towards her best friend at the bar with the doctor, Darcy leaned towards Caroline's ear, and whispered loud enough for the blonde debutante to hear. "CAROLINE, I'M GOING!"

Caroline nodded, turning to Darcy with a smile. She raised her hand, pantomiming a phone, and mouthed 'Call me later!' before returning to the blonde man who had her attention. Darcy shook her head half-heartedly, understanding that Caroline was certainly going to busy herself with that attractive looking man who was buying her drinks tonight. Details of the encounter would likely be gossiped about at their waitressing job later on or at Darcy's apartment tomorrow night over popcorn and movies.

She took one cautionary glance behind her to the VIP section as she was leaving the club, feeling the smoldering green eyes of Amora staring straight through her like a molten rod and gulped out of her nervous attraction for the woman before escaping the hot as hell club.

As the cold began touching her skin, freeing her from the warmth of the populated club, to the streets of winter-becoming spring New York City, Darcy shook her head. She had forgotten her coat but right now, it was more important for her to leave. Amora was something else and perhaps, in her mind, she would admit it, but her attractiveness was on par with Loki.

"Oh my god. What the hell, Darcy Lewis? I can't believe I just turned her down but she was just…." She groaned as she walked, making her way to the nearest twenty-four coffee diner or at least in the right direction. A cup of coffee would help her stop feeling regret and would help her find the way to head home as her nervousness dissipated, leaving the dangerous world tilting on its axis. She lurched, feeling the alcohol hitting her finally. Of course, it had to be when she was in a dark and dangerous way heading home, by herself, in the middle of New York City. "Ugh, Caroline, why did you bring me out?"

"I didn't even get the wifi password." Plopping against the nearest building, the intersection ahead making her queasy with the lights, Darcy laughed at the absurdity of it. The bubbly feelings of happiness was nice and the fact that she had gotten the attention of what could only be described as a Hollywood angel, definitely did a lot for her confidence. Darcy felt a slow smile creep on her face at the thought. Entranced in her buzzed mind on how much she would have liked to kiss the enchanting woman from the club, Darcy did not see the sharp dressed pair of legs that came to a stop in front of her.

"It's a good thing you made sure to not let her touch you." Loki's face appeared in front of her all of a sudden as he was squatting down in front of her. Blinking at his sudden appearance, Darcy wondered if she was imagining the handsome god or not.

"Magnus!" Wide-eyed, Darcy yelped his nom du plume, thankfully remembering it for when they were in public. Heart beating like crazy, the brunette could not tell if it was because of the shock of her favorite cupcake buyer, or from the fact that he was there in the first place. She gave her head a firm shake, only making the world seem to spin even more. "For all that is, stop teleporting without a sound. It's like dating Schrodinger's cat!" She raised her arms at him dramatically before they flopped against her thighs. Darcy added as an afterthought, rather lamely at that. "Not that we're dating."

"I haven't asked you." Glancing up at the super villain, the once-intern looked at him with all seriousness as if she was answering the question of what the meaning of life was before frowning at him. He was in serious face mode, so either he was teasing her, or he was being serious and right this particular second, with the ground making it feel like the sky, Darcy found she wanted it to be serious. What a silly thought, she believed.

"We aren't dating. We're two people who see each other very very often." She reached a finger, tapping the end of Loki's long nose with a laugh, leaning dangerously forward. Loki took her poking hand, holding it loosely in his own as a soft, almost genuine smile crossed his lips.

"While you watch me eat." He corrected, moving to stand up from his squatting. His other hand reached to her side, pulling her up with him. Unsteady, Darcy leaned against his broad chest, looking up at him with wonder with glassy eyes, rose colored by the alcohol she had slammed down earlier in the evening.

"We aren't dating." She reminded him again, quieter than the first time, though her mouth was quickly becoming dry. Her heart was turning into a hammer against her chest, as if nailing a coffin shut with how hard it percussed in her ears. Loki snorted, and though Darcy found it unusually annoying when he did so, for this moment, she couldn't help the small smile forming on her lips.

"As I have yet to ask to court you, I would assume we are not." He teased with his fingers ghosting over her side as he made sure she was able to stand without much help. Darcy took a moment to try and get the world to stop moving from side to side, failing a little.

"Wait. Are you going to try and court me?" She murmured as he moved to tuck the hand that he held in his, into his arm. He held her tightly to his side, causing her to press into his arm for a balanced strength to keep her upright. The two of them started walking the sidewalk, heading towards what Darcy wanted to believe was either her apartment or the nearest 24/7 diner. Every nerve felt like it could go on fire at any moment, but the next words out of Loki's mouth replaced the burning feeling with ice.

"The woman you met in there was Enchantress. She is the prominent adversary of mine I mentioned before." Blinking, Darcy thought over Amora who had shown up with class and svelte litheness and almost groaned to herself when she realized that it was almost like Loki's way of acting around those he wanted around. She was charming beyond belief and Darcy almost fell for it.

"Loki, by prominent adversary, do you mean gigantic pain in the ass?" She bit her bottom lip in frustration as any previous thought of having earned Amora's attention as herself, was dashed. Amora had likely only paid attention to her in the first place because of Loki.

"Like you but with magic powers." Loki actually laughed to himself, reaching his other hand to gently brush along the top of her tucked in hand. Darcy snorted in derision at that. There was no way she could beat Amora, especially not in those long legs and amazing hair. God, it had been like a river of golden silk.

"Hey, buddy. I could have…." She frowns to herself immediately, the come back dying on her lips as she remembered dimly that she was mortal and no matter how often paranormal romance writers wrote it, if she was a main character, she didn't have supernatural powers. "Fine, I couldn't have magic powers if I wanted to, but still. I'm fierce enough without them."

"That you are." Loki quietly agreed as they continued. It seemed they had shifted into her neighborhood somehow without her noticing, not that she could really notice the details with how much heat seemed to simmer between the two of them. However, as soon as they turned a corner to the road where her building was ten blocks down, one certainly tall, dressed to kill in the finest Armani trench coat that Darcy had ever seen, buxom blonde seductress stood in view, waiting for them by the look of it. Loki halted them a few steps away from the sorceress with a frown marrying his marble-like face.

"Amora." Loki hissed the name as if it was a venom dripping from his tongue. Darcy thought of a viper waiting to strike and almost laughed at the idea, but Loki did seem to have some strange affinity for snake-like things she had noted before. Amora frowned at the two of them, especially when she glanced at Darcy holding tightly onto Loki's arm.

"Loki, I see that your tastes are running young. Into Midgardian mortals like your brother, now?" Amora chortled, eyeing Darcy with disdain, a much different tune that she was singing now versus when the two were in the club earlier. Darcy could only look on with bemusement on her lips.

"Your tongue is souring. Jealousy must really make you bitter." Loki sneered, a smirk all too proud upon his face as he prodded at Amora's usual streak of possessiveness and jealousy. His hand rested on top of her own, thumb soothingly drawing circles on her skin as if to ensure that Darcy was still there at his side.

"Whoa…..um….." Darcy mumbled as she watched the bantering with a frown. Hot god, meet hot goddess and her libido did not know which direction to go. It was almost too much for her brain and her drunken state was suggesting other things than the obvious animosity between the three of them, well, two of them.

"There's no comparison to an immortal and a goat that you keep around for its milk." Amora chided, looking as if she could not be put off with Loki's previous statement. Darcy blinked as she thought she heard Loki growl under his breath, but the word goat occupied her drunken mind. The last time she had been called an animal was when she had practically shagged the brains out of the last person she slept with.

"Excuse you? Did you just call me a goat?" Darcy peered at Amora, pointing at her with a raised finger in anger. No one called her a goat. She wasn't some four-legged jumping internet phenomenon and definitely, not an Asgardian one either.

"Better a Midgardian, than a backstabbing whiny brat." Loki readjusted his hold on Darcy's side as she leaned dangerously forward towards Amora's chest. The god seemed to take extra care with Darcy, positioning himself so that he was slightly in front of her. .

"I can't believe I got compared to a goat." The brunette gurgled to herself at the thought. They could have compared her to something better, like a cat. She pressed her face into the side of his arm, shivering from the cold on her shoulders.

"Watch it, Loki, before your pet wanders into my pasture." Teasing, Amora leaned back from Darcy's pointing finger with a laugh at the drunken woman. Amora's laughter was haughty and Darcy felt all of her insides fall down from an icy precipice. She was charming and extremely alluring but her senses, though dulled with the alcohol coursing through her blood, could rile her instincts to shrink away from the danger.

"I can't fucking deal with the goat analogies." Growling, Darcy glared under her mass of falling hair at the blonde woman. Instincts told her to hide, anger overruled all too easily. She wasn't anyone's goat, not even Loki's. (Though to be fair, she wouldn't rule out something kinky if they agreed upon terms.)

"You know you cannot touch her." Loki raised his chin in defiance and scornful arrogance as if he wasn't shielding her from Amora's burning gaze of disdain. The smirk he gave her was full of his manipulative tone. The sorceress scowled at being called out.

"There's always more than one way to skin a goat." She hissed darkly. Her scowl maring her full lips, glaring at Darcy as if she was skinning her alive. For Darcy, it was exhausting always being on her guard and the fact that she had lowered it for a fraction of a second for Amora, made her want to spit the distaste out of her mouth. Alcohol, a very strong motivator, burned in her as Darcy's anger spiked.

"How about you shove all the goat talk up your Swiss miss mouth hole? I can't believe I thought you were pretty for more than five seconds." Standing up, almost too abruptly for Loki to compensate for, Darcy perked her petite body out, as if ruffling her feathers much like a hen on the attack. Her finger was jabbing at the air between Amora and Darcy, never touching her, but coming near enough for Loki to worry.

"Looks like you lost, Amora." Loki's soft laughter was definitely not lost on Darcy, who became upset that she was being laughed at, nor at Amora who sulked at what Darcy could only figure was about being tossed to the side by a mortal. Loki leaned Darcy away from the sorceress even more, putting himself to almost fully in front of her.

"Oh, I will make you regret this entire conversation, Loki." Amora sneered in anger at being bested and even more told off by Darcy. The smug arrogance that fit so very well on Loki's face stayed until the sorceress turned on her heel, disappearing completely from sight a few moments later.

"Is this really okay? You know, to leave with a villain glaring at me through my back?" Darcy peered up at her protector, if she could really call him that, and watched the smugness from his face disappear into a look of concentration. He looked a little troubled with his eyebrows bunching only minimally. It was almost adorable, she admitted to herself.

"Amora cannot touch you or harm you unless you let her put her hands on you and she wouldn't dare try to with me here." His fingers tightened over her own as they began moving again. There was a tone of tenderness to his voice that she didn't want to listen to. It promised things she wanted but desperately knew that he wouldn't keep.

"So, keep blondes away from me. Caroline's going to have an issue with that." She murmured, missing the step up onto the curb before trying again and succeeding. Loki waited for her patiently, only tugging a moment to keep them moving towards her apartment building. The rundown buildings were an aged beauty of displacement and typically what most people thought of when they brought up the idea of Bronx with stoops and concrete basketball courts in between buildings.

"Amora is charming, but she uses spells to persuade and bewitch. My wards protected you from any of her spells." She blinked up at Loki, eyes wide in realization that the dread and the voice that had been whispering all while Amora had talked with her in the club, had likely been his spell from earlier in the month when she had banished him.

"Well, that's swell." She stopped from saying thank you. She was grateful, but with the way Loki was, he would probably grin that stupid smug grin, and her heart would skip and right now, right now she was thinking that would be the dumbest thing to happen, because she wanted it to happen.

"Darcy, I want you to be wary. Amora is cunning, on par with me." Loki turned to face her, disengaging her from his arm. The warmth disappearing quickly as he looked her up and down, as if the check that she was fully alright. The God of Mischief blushed as he realized he had been too self-involved to notice that Darcy was walking around in a flimsy dress in the cold. He hurriedly, while helping keep Darcy steady with his hand, took off his long coat, offering it to her. "Here, take my coat. You are wearing next to nothing, you mortal."

"Taking everything with a grain of salt, Schrodinger's cat." She chirped, almost laughing as his hands slid the coat up along her arms, leaving a trail of fire down them. He helped her close the buttons, taking his time as he watched her carefully with each momentary sway of her feet.

"Why am I someone's cat?" He looked up from managing her last two buttons right under her chin. The trenchcoat was long, brushing the backs of her ankles, whereas on him it would be at his knees. It was bigger than her frame, but cinching the waist, with her frame in it reminded him of Black Widow almost. He caught her bright blue eyes, keeping them in his snare as his mouth went dry for a heart beat.

"Why not? You kind of are like it anyway." She chuckled with nervousness laced throughout her body, leaning dangerously backwards before Loki's deft hand grasped her waist tightly, bringing her back to his front. His hand slid down from her waist to her hip without him acknowledging it, though Darcy's skin, even under all those layers blazed at his touch.

"With the way you talk, I doubt Schrodinger kept a good enough record of where his cat was in the first place." He gave her a sheepish smirk, only loosening his hold on her hip, to bring up his arm for her to hold onto.

"Oh, you would be surprised." Darcy chuckled to herself, enjoying their banter as she re-engaged herself to his side with the barest offer of his arm. She wrapped her fingers around his elbow, putting herself along his side. If it made Loki uncomfortable, he didn't say anything as they started walking once more towards her home.

They made it about a block before Darcy froze to the spot as she spied one giant blonde god of thunder across the lanes on the opposite side of the street.

"Brother….?" Thor blinked at them, before a giant smile spread across his tanned cheeks. He jumped into traffic, without care for the many honks that followed as he was jaywalking, joyfully coming over to the two of them, faster than Darcy thought should be possible. "Brother!"

"Oh, shit." She groaned to herself more than anything as her mind went into overdrive, a drunken overdrive. She debated on trying to say that she was Max Black, a woman with amnesia and four husbands she married all at once, in Vegas or something as equally as tragic from a telenovela. Loki, thankfully, who always seemed to have a plan in place, bowed his head to her ear for a moment.

"Keep your head down." Loki warned, as Darcy tried to look away from the massive lumberjack that was one Thor Odinson, God of Thunder, Bringer of Lightning and Jane's fantasies to life. Darcy looked away, keeping her head down, for once choosing to listen to Loki's instructions. Loki looked at his brother with a wary glance, sniffing at him with an inherent disdain that he seemed to have polished over the past year in his imprisonment. "Thor."

"I thought it had to be you! I didn't think you would come to this side of New York." Thor was like a golden labrador, Darcy quickly decided. No matter how Loki frowned at him, wanting to ignore the warrior, Thor seemed to just run past that barrier and sidle up beside the trickster. He was wearing clothing that seemed to be from a local lumberjack store, thick red and black plaid shirt, opened to a plain grey shirt that was tucked into his tight, but very sculpting jeans with a dark blue sort of trench coat covering it and an obviously homemade scarf.

Jane must have been knitting while thinking again, Darcy thought with a pang of remorse, having given up all of her weirdly shaped handmade Jane sweaters and scarves when she had been on the run from Agent Coulson. Jane had learned knitting in the first few weeks they were in New Mexico. It had been more for Darcy's sanity than Jane needing a hobby. Jane had needed a hobby that was not eating egregious amounts of the pop tarts while talking and thinking out loud or pacing while gesturing and talking to herself when she was not in the lab and thinking loudly at her computer. Jane still had muttered to herself, but keeping her hands busy with the knitting needles, a pen and paper beside her, while Darcy could get some time watching Netflix at night was worth the amount of money she had put in for the yarn, beginner books, and needles.

"I am escorting the baker." Loki provided his brother, as he tried to maneuver himself in front of Darcy, to help keep her obscured from his adopted brother's view.

"The Baker?" Thor blinked with his quizzical, but eye-pleasing brow raising a bit in concern. It was true that Loki had to concede that he had never told Thor that The Baker's name was Max Black or that she was really his friend from New Mexico named Darcy Lewis. It had been part of their bargain, anyway.

"That is her title. She bakes." He ended lamely, frowning to himself as Thor peeked over his shoulder to look at Darcy. Darcy seemed to hide behind him, only baring her eyes to peek up at the warrior for the shortest of moments. Her fingers on his arm tightened.

"I'm sorry, miss. My brother sometimes chooses not to remember names." Thor reached his hand out for Darcy to take, as he apologized to her. Loki snorted in derision. He most certainly did not forget Darcy's name, nor that of her fake name.

"I remember them just fine." He retorted, moving to smack at Thor's hand, to keep it away from Darcy as he knew the spell that he wove would not hold up to hand contact. Darcy almost laughed at Thor's slightly affronted face.

"Well, what's her name?" The warrior challenged Loki with a smirk under his beard. Sick of yet another immortal being going on and on about her without her actually conversing with them, Darcy felt her hackles rise and spoke before Loki could interject. She threw her hand out, striking Thor against his broad chest, despite her aiming for his hand.

"My name is Max Black." Darcy piped up, with a deep breath in, as she steeled herself for any sort of recognition as she spoke. Loki's fingers on the back of her other hand soothed her agitation slightly, but not by much.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Thor, master of lightning and the most powerful Avenger!" Thor took a moment to step back, so that he could take her hand and shake it. The drunken waitress peered up at him, trying her best not to laugh at his self-imposed title.

"...Isn't that for the Hulk?" Darcy teased Thor, knowing that he was very prideful of his strength, though it was probably lesser than before when he was in New Mexico with her, Erik, and Jane. Loki visibly went rigid, something Darcy mentally put away in her mind to use for a later time when he was getting too much on her nerves.

"Uh….no. Not at all. That's….That's my title." Thor tried to sound convincing, failing if by the spectacularly blank face that both Loki and Darcy gave him.

"Are you sure, because I thought it was the Hulk's?" Another visible shudder. Darcy could feel a grin tug on the edge of her lips. 'Oh, this is going to be good ammo for later,' she decided. Loki was scared of the Hulk, but to be fair, if he had as much of a beating as what Jimmy Novak had told her about, having hacked into the Stark Systems during the Battle for New York, then she could understand. On the other hand, having something to tease Loki about other than their usual banter, was worth knowing.

"Nope. I-It's me." The sheepish grin and head rub Thor gave the two of them was enough for Darcy to feel the need to tease him even more.

"Liar." She quipped with a sharp laugh. Loki bit his cheek to keep from laughing as well. Seeing his brother's fighting prowess thrown down a peg by a mortal was a cherishable moment, even better that it was by a mortal that Loki actually deigned to 'like' enough to enjoy their conversations. He could even say he was proud that Darcy wasn't fawning over his brother like a brainless chit would have. Thor even chuckled for a moment as well, despite being the butt of Darcy's joke.

"Well, would you not look at the time?" Loki nudged Darcy who quickly got the gist. She grinned, immediately playing along as she looked up at him with worry in her eyes.

"Oh, it is, super….like, really super late. Loki, will you take me back to my door? I may puke on the most powerful avenger's shoes if we don't get moving." Loki nodded to her, trying to move them past Thor's girth who stepped to the side for the two of them, but were quickly stopped as Thor followed them with a cheery call from behind.

"Oh, brother! You're being so helpful. I should help you both. I can fly you to your home with Mjolnir to help!" Whether or not Thor wasn't trying to impress the unimpressible, Darcy's mind screamed out a loud ALERT as she turned around to face him.

"N-No!" She cried out, as she tried her best to think her way through this one. Though she was sure that Loki could get them out of this spot with his wily charms and what not. However, she was treading a thin line here. If Thor realized, she was Darcy Lewis from New Mexico, She Who Shocked The Thunder God, then he would tell Jane and then Jane would tell her mother and her mother would scream it to the world and then SHIELD would happen.

"Huh?" Thor gave her a look of confusion, at her rather sudden

"I just mean….I would…...definitely hurl on….uh….Mew Mew." She nodded satisfactorily to herself. That would stop him for sure. All people hated vomit, and even more if that vomit was on their most special weapon of the universe. At least that was what she was rationalizing to herself.

"What she means to say, is that as she is feeling ill, being cold, and all the more, under my protection, brother, there is no way, I am handing off my duty to you. I will be back to my prison rather soon." Loki half-glared at his brother, hoping Thor would get the hint, but even then, he was sure he may have to expressly say No. Thor opened his mouth as if he was going to interject but closed it and waved at Darcy instead.

"It was nice meeting you, Lady Black!" Darcy returned his wave with drunken enthusiasm as she felt a surge of giddiness rise up. They were getting away! Thor grinned watching his brother, Loki turn away to continue on the way to Lady Black's apartment. He whispered more to himself than anyone. "I am so proud of my brother."

"Oh my god. Is he gone?! How did he not recognize me!?" After one or two blocks, where they turned away from Thor's view into a side street, Darcy looked frantically behind her, hoping to all of Hel that they really had gotten away from the effervescent thunder god.

"I gave you a shoddy disguise spell." Loki replied, trying to keep Darcy steady as she stumbled with her movements while looking around. For a human woman, she was very abrupt as she shifted her weight around against him, though it was more than likely because her sense of balance was off.

"Who did you make me look like?" She questioned, as they began taking the steps up the stoop to the front door of the house of apartments. Darcy was secretly hoping he had made her more like a model, as she fidgeted around with the door handle, trying to open the old rusted thing.

"Your vapid room mate." Loki moved Darcy's hand from the door knob, seeing her trouble with the door knob. It took him a moment to open it with the amount of resistance the door knob was giving but it did. Darcy frowned to herself. It made sense that it would open under his strength and not hers, but to be fair, she reasoned to herself, she was drunker than she likely should be.

"Oh, that's uh….nice? Did you make me taller?" She wondered if she had been taller in Thor's eyes. She certainly hadn't felt any change or seen the world differently than her 5'4" height usually gave her. Could someone morph into a different height? Did that work at all or was everything like an equivalent exchange? She snorted in thought. Alchemy could not be the way of transformation mutations.

"I only glamored your face and voice. He would have noticed more. Even Thor is not that dull to my magic." He maneuvered himself to just behind Darcy, who for all intents and purposes almost purred at the warmth of Loki's chest against her back. His hand eased along her hip and back as the one she had been holding onto, wrapped around her arm, to guide her up the railing and get them moving on the stairs.

"Oh. Well," She shrugged, shelving the idea of seeing the world taller. Perhaps he would do it a different day or at least explain it to her if he was feeling right to do so. It wasn't like it came up in their normal conversations at the diner. As they got onto the next set of stairs, Darcy realized she had to do something super important, the most important as her mama taught her manners! The drunken waitress, buzzed as ever, leaned back against Loki's chest, with her head looking up at him. Inclining back, to keep the both of them from falling on their collective asses, Loki blinked owlishly at the positively adoring smile that his Baker was giving him. "Thank you, Loki. If he knew who I was, he would tell Jane in a heartbeat and then SHIELD would know and then my life would be over over."

"You live in an apartment you pretend you don't live in when you get calls from the house phone." Almost stumbling at Darcy's rather sweet gratitude, Loki managed to get them back to her only pressing against him slightly as he helped ensure she didn't tumble to her death down the half-broken stair well that creaked under their weight.

"Incognito, buddy." She reminded him, coming to a stand fully on her own as soon as they got to the corridor where her apartment lie. Loki seemed hesitant to let her leave his fingers as Darcy passed down the hall with a snort. She wouldn't lie to herself. The second she moved towards her home, she missed the calming heat he gave off. It could be his heat or the fact that she might have hypothermia from running around New York City in a dress and boots and nothing else.

"You live in a criminal situation." His remark soured her good mood for a moment, but Darcy wasn't going to have none of that. She was happy, in a cheery enough mood with enough alcohol to not enjoy the hangover that was coming for her when she woke up.

"You are a criminal situation." She snorted in derision as she reached for her spare key behind the one small spot that was broken in the trim of her doorway. She found it after a few moments of digging, dragging it out with a soft, "Yas!" However, trying to put the key in the hole in her deadbolt and then her door knob was a trying task.

"You have better comebacks than that." Loki frowned, as he finally took her key from her. His fingers came to rest on her back, keeping her from tipping over ass over tea kettle onto the floor to sleep there for the rest of the night. (Not that he would let her if he could.)

"I'm drunk, so not right now." She opened her door, taking her spare key and with her. When Loki didn't immediately follow, to keep her warm or make sure she didn't accidentally impale herself on the mostly fixed but slightly broken furniture she owned from the curbs she had picked them up from, Darcy turned to face him with a slight tinge of hurt. Didn't he want to come hang out with her? She had enjoyed their conversation despite Amora and Thor showing up like the gigantic names they were. "Aren't you coming in?"

"You kicked me out." If Darcy had to give a name to how Loki looked, she would say a kicked puppy, though that might be her 'Crush' sight and not what was actually there. His eyes were downcast, looking away from Darcy, almost as if he was ashamed about being kicked out in the first place. Her heart twinged at the sight. Settling against her door jam, glancing upwards at him, Darcy realized that he really was apologetic about the way he spoke about her home before, especially after the tongue-lashing she gave him.

"Oh, I did, didn't I?" She murmured quietly between them. Loki snorted, laughing at some sort of joke to himself it seemed as she watched him with scrutiny to see if he was making fun of her. The kicked puppy was now a mischievous prince of tricks in front of her.

"Yes, you did." Loki's smile was a terrible reminder to her that yet again, he was a human-sized cake, sinfully tempting to eat while she was absconding from cakes in general. He leaned over her in the doorway, watching her with an intensity that Darcy felt should be reserved for mysteries and porn. There was one thing she had to know before she gave him permission back into her home.

"Loki, do you really think of me as a goat?" With everything that happened tonight, meeting Amora and then dealing with her bull crap banter about Darcy being a goat, she was rather insecure about her position with Loki, not that she really should be thinking of any position with him. Since their blowout a while back, Loki had seemed to take her into consideration, choosing instead to tease or banter with her for a few moments instead of grumping at her while he ate his cupcakes. If she really were a goat to him, wouldn't he have treated her worse or maybe he just had general derision for her in the first place.

"No. I think…..I think you are like the stars." Loki was quiet for a few moments, staring down into his human companion's dark blue eyes before answering her the truth. He thought to lie for a moment, but that wasn't their relationship at all. It was built on him knowing the truth about her and her knowing his without exposing each other to any one else. It was a tenuous trust, but for all purposes, they were confidantes to each other.

"What do you mean?" Darcy was taken back by his words, unsure and insecure about what he could mean exactly. Calling someone the stars was just waiting for a different shoe to drop, like her being an angel falling from heaven, something she doubted Loki would ever say to her in the first place. Her tongue darted out to whet her lips. Loki leaned closer to her, bending so he didn't have to speak above a whisper.

"You can be taken for granted because there are so many stars, so many mortals, but you all shine in your way. Even though you are all not eternal, not as long lasting as the higher races, you burn through your lives with fervor." He was blushing as he spoke, looking into her eyes without shame. His declaration made her heart stutter and try to pick itself back up again. For all intent, Darcy took a deep breath to gird herself against whether or not she was ready for this vulnerability from Loki the Megalomaniac who destroyed New York City and was currently in the process of destroying the cute lace underwear she had worn tonight. "I do not think of you as a goat. I think of you as you are, Darcy Lewis, the mortal, the baker, and the woman who brought Thor to the ground without magic."

The air crackled between them, bringing heat that Darcy didn't want to name for it was staring at her like the Grand Canyon. She was not given that option as Loki whetted his lips, staring at her mouth. She was breathless, trying to breathe with his intense stare. Oh god, she thought. It was going to happen and she was drunk and she didn't think she would remember any of it, come tomorrow with the hangover just waiting in a few hours. Darcy's heart was beating so hard, she felt that it could start its own hard core rock band, no drummer need to apply. His eyes were soft but behind that softness was a dark core, one that melted her completely as it bore through her body. Sparks danced along her spine as realization burst behind her eyes as if fireworks were blowing up in the sky.

Loki wanted her. Her mind exploded at the thought, of the acknowledgement that Loki Laufeyson (Odinson) at that particular moment wanted her permission to step foot in her apartment and ravish her, and she knew she would let him if he came in. Her lower half clenched in anticipation at the thought. Darcy knew she could say he could come in and the once villain could press her into the door behind her once it closed and have his way, seven ways to Sunday.

The scary thought was that out of all of her flings, deep down, Darcy did not want to say yes, for one night. She found in her heart, the one that beat so treacherously when she had asked if he was going to start courting her and he had changed the conversation to Amora, that she wanted more than one sinfully delightful night with the Trickster Prince. Dating Loki would be something she hadn't even imagined before, but now that she felt it from earlier, now that she had been teased about it, did she want anything less? When she looked at Loki's face, she decided didn't want to be a notch on his bedpost, a reminder in Amora's face that he would rather sleep with a goat than with the sorceress.

Darcy wanted Loki, very much so. Her body currently humming at his attention, begging, yearning for it, but she realized as she looked at him, taking in the dark lust in his eyes, the way his lips were slightly parted and just the very amount of sexual heat between the two of them, that she wanted him on her own terms and with less alcohol in her.

She didn't want buzzed drunk sex with Loki for perhaps the only time she would get him. She wanted to be sober and remember it and keep it if she agreed to it, though even then, she realized she wanted more than one time. Swallowing thickly, Darcy tried to think of what to say as her mind blanked out. She didn't know how to say this to him, how to be vulnerable at the feelings of wanting to be important, wanting to be cherished more than a one time lay, without sounding weak or begging for his attention. Without thinking it through, Darcy opened her mouth and said the first thing that came.

"I think I got diarrhea." She slammed the door behind her and immediately went into her room, shame filling every part of her limbs and her body turning ten shades of embarrassed. Burying her head in her pillows, Darcy let out a sexually frustrated scream, upset more at herself than anything else for that was the worse excuse she could think of, and the worst part, she had said it to Loki who would bring it up and tease her about it.

Or worse, he would not want her anymore, at all even. Darcy let out another scream into her pillows as that thought rolled around in her head.

'FUCK.'