The Real Monsters - Chapter 5

   “So, is there any particular reason you attacked Marlene the other day?” - Alice asked as she slashed away at her opponent with a curved sword.
They had received word in the early afternoon of an incident in a lab somewhere in Canada, some riskily-attempted study on parallel dimensions gone wrong that resulted in foreign ‒ and very hostile ‒ creatures making their way through, and were in the process of dealing with them; Loki and Nightshade paired up as usual.

   Loki, who had his back to her and was in the process of spearing one of the insect-like creatures with a shard of ice he’d summoned, froze for a fraction of a second, before replying, “Minor disagreement.”

   “A ‘minor disagreement’ that left bruises.” - Alice pressed as she ducked under a wave of fire Loki sent to the enemies in front of her and began hacking away at the ones now behind him in one fluid movement.

   “I can’t be expected to remember how fragile humans are when I’m angry.” - Loki retorted as he summoned his dagger and began fighting in close quarters.

   Alice scoffed as she dodged a long, serrated pincer, and quipped humorously, “You’re lucky I love you.”


   In hindsight, Loki wondered how he could have made such a stupid mistake, knowing fully well what Alice had meant with those words, but emotions and logic don’t always get along, and that was how he wound up in the infirmary with an eight-inch-long puncture wound through his chest from an enemy he’d failed to notice in his distraction. The only reason he hadn’t been torn to pieces by the ones that followed was because Thor had happened to be near enough to assist in time, which Loki was sure he wouldn’t be allowed to forget any time soon.
It was late in the evening now, and Thor sat at Loki’s bedside attempting to speak to him, much to the latter’s dismay, given what was being said.

   “You really should just tell her, brother, she will find out eventually.” - Thor tried for the umpteenth time.

   “You overestimate her level of understanding on relationships.” - Loki dismissed tiredly, trying to find a comfortable position to lie on and mostly failing.

   “You don’t think she’ll question just why you would let yourself become that distracted over something she says all the time?” - Thor asked with underlying sarcasm, gesturing to the bandaged wound.

   Loki looked away and replied, “She won’t question what she doesn’t know she caused.”

   “‘Doesn’t know’...” - Thor repeated, before burying his face in his hand with a frustrated sigh. He looked back up at his brother, who was staring fixedly at the other wall like it was the most interesting thing in the universe, and said, “Loki, this is getting ridiculous.”

   “I don’t see why you’re so interested; this is my problem to manage.” - Loki mumbled stubbornly, still not looking at Thor.
Thor rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his seat a bit.

   “I’m interested because you’re my brother and she my friend, and because you aren’t, in fact, managing it at all.” - Thor replied, then added, “And you would do well to change that, before someone else does.”

   At that, Loki’s gaze snapped back towards his brother and he raised himself as much as his injury would allow, warning through half-gritted teeth, “If you say anything, I will murder you.”

   Thor smirked slightly at the threat, glad to have finally gotten a reaction, then replied, “I won’t say a word, but I am not the only one who has noticed.”

   Loki slumped a bit, then dared to ask, “Stark?”
Thor’s expression told him all he needed to know, and he closed his eyes and let himself fall back onto the mattress with a groan.

   “You brought this on yourself, brother; you’ve had half a year to tell her.” - Thor teased, earning a glare.

   “We can’t all be lucky enough to find a willing receiver of our affections in three days, brother.” - Loki snapped, causing Thor to burst out laughing.

   After a moment of silence, Thor spoke up again, “Be honest with me, brother.”

   “You truly haven’t been paying attention at all, have you?” - Loki mused, earning an unamused look to which he responded with a playful half smile.

   “I’m serious.” - Thor scolded, not altogether successful in hiding his own amusement.

   “Well, now I know Ragnarok is upon us.” - Loki replied, causing them both to lose the tenuous battle against laughter.

   “Why do I even bother?” - Thor asked aloud when he had more-or-less regained his breath.

   “Sometimes I think you just like the abuse.” - Loki replied, the ghost of a laugh still in his voice, before asking a bit more seriously, “Now what are you so curious about that you would ask the near impossible of me?”

   Thor straightened himself in the chair and replied, “I’m merely wondering why you are so reluctant to tell Alice how you feel. You did not take so long to approach Sigyn, and you were barely adults; surely all these centuries since would gain you more confidence.”

   Loki flinched minutely at the mention of his late wife, then sighed and responded quietly, “’Tis not a lack of confidence.”

   “Then what?” - Thor asked.

   “At first, I just didn’t want to admit it was real. Now...” - Loki trailed off.

   “Now what? Out with it, man!” - Thor snapped slightly, tiring of the other’s stalling.

   “Now I’ve realised I don’t know her at all!” - Loki admitted frustratedly.
Thor looked at him in surprise for a moment, before crossing his arms over his chest again.

   “I’ve known you to be a liar, brother, but not a hypocrite.” - Thor scoffed. Loki looked at him questioningly, so he continued, “You refer to her past, do you not? Which I might add none of us know much about. But exactly how much does she know of yours?”

   “Significantly more than she’s told me of hers.” - Loki replied defensively.

   “And you call me thick-headed.” - Thor remarked, “Is the fact that she has told you anything at all completely lost on you?”

   “No, it is not, and neither is the fact that the only reason she told me is because Marlene showed up and left her with no choice.” - Loki snapped, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the point Thor was making.

   “Yes, because you’re so freely forthcoming yourself.” - Thor retorted sarcastically.

   “At least it didn’t take her a year to learn my name.” - Loki protested.

   “And it took the rest of us two.” - Thor replied, leaning back in the chair and raising an eyebrow as if in challenge. Loki opened his mouth to reply, then closed it and looked away in defeat. Thor let out a sigh and said, “If the only trouble is what she hasn’t told you, then ask, truly ask, and be prepared to offer answers of your own.”

   Loki was silent for a long while, mulling over Thor’s words, then he looked back at the Thunderer and asked, “And if I do that, then what? There is no guarantee that she’ll return my feelings. No guarantee that she can.”

   Thor placed a hand on Loki’s shoulder, surprised by the uncharacteristic vulnerability in his eyes, and said, “I cannot answer that, brother, but I do know that you owe it to yourself to try.”

   Loki looked to the side a moment as if contemplating something, then looked back at Thor with a slight smirk and remarked, “Sentiment.”
Thor blinked, then rolled his eyes and gave Loki a slight shove, earning a laugh.


   Alice lay sprawled out on the couch, her legs up on Marlene’s lap, as they watched a movie together in the older woman’s apartment. She’d gone straight there after Thor had come into the infirmary asking to speak to Loki alone, and in the end decided to spend the night.

   “This is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen.” - Alice commented after a while.

   “Oh, my dear, you’ve seen nothing yet.” - Marlene replied, patting Alice’s thigh. She waited a moment, then ventured to ask, “So, how’s Loki?”

   “Annoyed, probably; I left him with Thor.” - Alice replied somewhat absently.

   “Bit odd, from what you’ve told me about him, for him to lose his focus like that, isn’t it?” - Marlene asked, “Do you know what brought it on?”

   “Well, he won’t tell me, but I think it was my fault.” - Alice replied, sounding a little guilty.

   “How?” - Marlene asked.

   “Well, I was asking him about what happened between you two right before he lost it.” - Alice replied.

   “I see.” - Marlene said, “Well, I’ve gotta admit your timing could have been better, but would that really have been enough to distract him that badly?”

   “I don’t know, maybe he thought I was mad at him or something?” - Alice replied, then added, “Which is ridiculous, ’cause I let him know I wasn’t.”

   “Did you, though?” - Marlene asked half-jokingly.

   “Well, not in those exact words. I said, ‘You’re lucky I love you’, I think that’s explicit enough.” - Alice replied.

   Marlene cringed a bit at those words, realising what had probably happened, and muttered to herself, “You have no idea.”
Alice looked at her curiously, and Marlene offered a smile and directed her attention back to the TV.


   After the movie, which did in fact get much worse, was over, Marlene and Alice lay in the former’s bed talking about random things. The subject had revolved around Loki several times, but Marlene still didn’t quite know how to encourage Alice to be more open with him about her life without outright telling her so, which she really didn’t want to do. More so because she figured that after Alice killed her, she’d go after Loki next and, while she wasn’t yet sure how much she actually liked the man, she didn’t want to be responsible for his early demise.
In the end, after much consideration, she simply took a breath and hoped for the best.

   “You know, you talk about Loki an awful lot.” - She began in a conspiratorial sort of tone, “More so than the others, and you’ve known them longer.”

   “Do I? I never noticed.” - Alice replied, playing with the fingers of Marlene’s hand. She looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “I guess I just have more to say about him.”

   “You’re very close, aren’t you?” - Marlene asked, hoping her wording was careful enough.

   “Yep, closer than I’ve ever been to anyone. Except maybe mother, but definitely not the same way.” - Alice replied, and Marlene’s eye twitched slightly at the word ‘mother’.

  Marlene hummed a bit, then asked, “How then?”
Alice opened her mouth to reply, then closed it, realising she didn’t actually know how to answer. She looked up at the ceiling for several minutes, deep in thought, thinking back to all the time she’d spent around Loki; all the missions they went on together, all the downtime besides, how lonely she’d been feeling when he started avoiding her. And the brief yet perplexingly intense moment of panic she went through earlier that day when she saw him get hurt. It wasn’t as though it was her first time seeing him bleed, after all. Yet somehow this was different, and she had no idea why.

   After giving it some more thought, finally she just admitted softly, “I have no idea.”