The next day, Darcy slept in. Well, slept is an exaggeration. More precisely, she laid in her bed until well past noon, flipping through some of the books she'd brought with her from Earth and wondering what her next move should be. Yeah, she'd chickened out of going into his bedroom last night, which made things a little more complicated. If he was offended by her rejection, then she needed to play things carefully. But if he understood her distance, then she could toy with him a little more, draw him out a little more dramatically.

For awhile, she turned to the pages of her favorite romance novels for inspiration. But when that didn't work, she mostly just flipped through the sex scenes and tried not to think of how she was starting to imagine her and Loki playing out some of the paper positions.

Eventually, she got her answer. Because around noon, Elvera came into the room, her flowing, multicolored robes fluttering behind her as she swanned in. The sunlight caught the vibrant rainbow of her clothes, which only made the thin-lipped gravity of her face all the more obvious. After curtseying, she cleared her throat and read from a small slip of parchment in her hand.

"The King requests the honor of your company on a tour of the capital city of Freygard."

"Does he now?"

The guy didn't learn anything from the whole dinner fiasco, did he? She wasn't going to be summoned and she wasn't going to be commanded. Elvera's expression dipped into a grimace as Darcy returned back to her book, disinterested in a tour if this was how she was going to get one.

"I'm afraid so, my lady."

"Why are you afraid so?"

"Because I'm certain you're about to tell me that he should come here and ask you himself. And that I'm the lucky one who gets to inform him of that."

Poor Elvera. Darcy didn't manage to swallow back a smirk.

"God, you already know me so well. Good luck."

"Help the human girl, they said," she muttered under her breath as she turned back towards the door. "It will be fun, they said."

"You're a Saint and a good friend, Elvera," Darcy called after her.

"And you are going to be sending me back to Krylor if Loki turns me into a snake or something."

Half an hour later, there had been no explosions or sudden snake invasions in the castle, so Darcy assumed that Loki hadn't completely devoured Elvera for telling him to shove his invitation where the sun didn't shine. Good. At least he was proving he could learn. Then, suddenly, a small, hesitant knock smattered against the door to her chambers.

"Lady Darcy?"

Her heart gave a little flutter at the sound of her name in his voice. But she shoved down the sensation.

"Yes?" she called, oh-so innocently, as she walked towards the door. "Who is it?"

There was a pause. Then, the trickster god spoke again. "Who would you want it to be?"

"Oh, I don't know. Someone tall, lithe and handsome. Preferably if he looked like he hadn't gotten a good night sleep in weeks. Maybe wearing something green and broody?"

She threw open the door, fully expecting him to have magicked himself into an overdrawn parody of what she'd just described, but instead, she found him with his hand caught, mid-spell, his chin downturned and his jaw slightly slack. When she appeared in the doorway, only his surprised eyes moved to glimpse her.

It was as if something she'd said had shocked him into stillness.

Then, he spoke, and she realized what had gotten to him, what had taken away his veneer of perfect control and rendered him basically speechless. "Handsome?"

She hadn't expected him to pick up on that. Clearing her throat, she suddenly found the carvings in her door paneling very interesting.

"Well I never went for the whole jock thing."

"Is that so?"

Without looking at him, she could still hear his smirk. Bastard. She hit him back, straightening to her full height and taking a defiant step forward, answering his smirk with one of her own. "Yeah, my type was always guys who wouldn't necessarily beat me in a fight."

"Oh, you don't think I could defeat you in battle?" He asked, the words smooth as honey and twice as sweet.

"I'd like to see you try."

She took another step forward, her chest brushing against his. Instinct told her to run, that he was dangerous, that he could kill her where she stood. But bravery, curiosity, and desire all conspired to keep her rooted to the spot. Loki tutted, sarcasm dancing in his striking gaze.

"Oh, Lady Darcy, you should know that I can't be distracted by a pair of pretty eyes."

"Really?" That's when she made her move, slow and careful, never once letting her stare stray from his. He was as trapped in this moment as she was, as helpless to whatever was happening between them. "Because I already have my hand around the handle of your dagger. I could cut you through right now. Nebula, Thanos' daughter, taught me herself."

"But you won't."

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

Involuntarily, her hand tightened around the handle of the blade. Her heart hammered in her ears. She waited for him to zap her with some kind of spell or something else she'd expect from a god. But his smirk broadened, and he winked.

"Because you just called me handsome. I wouldn't make a very fine-looking corpse, unfortunately for you."

"I just meant, like…" A flush travelled up her collar. That's when the stammering started. Pushing away from him, she released the knife and tried, terribly, to backpedal. "You know. Aesthetically, you're…It's just… Oh, fine. Just take your stupid dagger back."

"Very good." He ran his hands over the handle of the blade, checking that she hadn't tricked him. Joke was on him. He didn't know that she was hiding about seven blades on her person from Nebula. "Now that I have some insurance that you won't be murdering me for the crown, I thought we might go out into the city, see some of your new kingdom."

"But I haven't been officially introduced yet. I thought you didn't want me going out until my formal introduction."

Loki waved his hands, and before Darcy knew it, they were both transfigured, their clothes turned into normal, street clothes. She had to admit it…Loki looked very, very appealing in a grey sweater and tight jeans.

"That's what the disguises are for." He glanced at her green sweater and black skirt set, appraisingly. She fought the urge to blush under his scrutiny. "You look very fetching in my colors."

"Oh, so you own the color green now?"

"On this planet, I own everything, Darcy Lewis."

He was suddenly close. So close. How did he get that close? She swallowed, and tried not to trace the curves of his lips with her eyes. "Not me."

There was something like a smile on his lips. Not a smirk, but a real smile. "You're right. No one can own a Queen. And I'd weep for the fool who tried."

Once they'd made it to the front wings of the castle, a small contingent of soldiers took their places near their King and Future Queen. The hairs on the back of Darcy's neck rose on-end. Loki carried on as if there was nothing wrong, but Darcy couldn't help but tense up at their thundering-booted presence nearby. She could still remember how they'd hurt her. And even if Loki had "dealt with" the ones who'd done it, she didn't trust the ones who remained. Not yet, anyway.

"Now, I suggest we begin—"

"No soldiers."

Loki stopped dead in his tracks. She could tell he still wasn't used to having his decisions questions. Well, tough luck. Darcy was nothing if not questioning. "I beg your pardon?"

"I don't want any of them near me. Besides, if we're going incognito—"

"Of course, you're right." He turned his attention to the one in the center of the phalanx following them. "Go. Leave us."

With a small bow, the solider led his compatriots away, until only Darcy and Loki remained in the hall. For a moment, they stood there in quiet, companionable silence, until the last boot left the marble flooring. Thank you hung on Darcy's lips, but she couldn't seem to form the words. She wasn't sure she'd ever be in a place to thank him.

"Come," he said, pointing the way. "There is much to see, Lady Darcy."

"You know, I'm glad you invited me on this tour."

"You didn't leave me much of a choice, did you?"

As they walked side-by-side, close enough to touch but neither daring to actually do so, Darcy shoved her hands in her pockets to quell the urge to hold his hand. After all, that was what people did on dates, right?

Oh, God. Was this a date? Or was it just a getting-to-know-my-future-Queen thing? And what did she want it to be?

Shaking her hand to clear it, she tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

"Well, if you're going to learn to be good, actually asking people things before you just take them is always a good start."

"Ah, but taking can be so much fun. You underestimate the beauty of power."

They turned a corner towards the far gates surrounding the castle, and Darcy rolled her eyes. Sure, there was something magnetic about the nature of power…But she wasn't going to encourage him.

"Right. I forgot. You're a super badass who rules with an iron fist. You know, if you want to be a good ruler, as you say you do, then you'll need to learn how to—Wait. What's that?"

Darcy knew what the skyline of the castle looked like. After being locked up in here for days, she knew its every nook and cranny. But now, suddenly, when she looked up, she spotted a brand-new, very tall tower sticking out of the north wing.

"What's what? I don't see anything. Come, let us go to the—"

"That. Over there. It wasn't there yesterday. It looks like an astronomy tower."

"Oh. Interesting. Strange. Life is full of mysteries, isn't it?" He tugged on her arm, away from the building. "We really should—"

"Loki. Did you build me an astronomy tower?"

"It's an astrophysics lab. Actually."

Gotcha. Her victory at hearing that correction was only slightly overshadowed by, you know, the realization that he'd built her an astrophysics lab.

"And when were you going to tell me about this?"

"I thought eventually you'd just find it."

"Why wouldn't you show me yourself?" She stopped short, her eyes flickering between him and the great tower dotting the skyline beyond. It hit her like a ton of bricks. "Oh. You didn't want me to know you'd done it for me."

"If Freygard is to be part of the intergalactic community, then we needed a strong astrophysics lab. Nothing more."

That was a denial if she'd ever heard one, but Darcy let it go. Besides, she was too excited. He'd thought of her. He'd heard her frustration and her desires and he'd given her a gift. That had to mean something, didn't it?

"...Can I see it?"

"It's your castle, too. You can go anywhere you'd like."

Before she could help herself, she grabbed his hand tight, and began pulling him towards the castle.

"Come on. Show me."

Loki, of course, would never—not as long as his immortality lasted—admit to Darcy that she was right. He really hadn't wanted her to know about the gift he'd spent all night building for her with his magic. Part of him had been hoping that someone else would tell her about it, and she'd be good enough not to mention it to him, that she would just go about using it and that they would spent the rest of their reign and marriage not mentioning the fact that he'd built her an astrophysics lab onto the north wing of the castle.

But now that he was there, leaning against the doorway as she ran around the lab's main floor, taking in all that he'd built for her—from the tables built at the optimal height for her stature to the equipment he'd curated from all across the known galaxy—, watching her eyes light up like an entire system of stars and her entire spirit brighten and warm against the darkness and the cold that always seemed to dominate his spirit…he was glad that his plot hadn't worked. He wouldn't have traded this moment, not if Thanos offered him the entirety of the cosmos in exchange.

"A radon telescope! NASA doesn't even have one of these yet! Oh, a star-matter collector! No way, how did you get a ASPEC drone?"

Loki bit the inside of his lip, folding his arms across his chest as he waited for her verdict. He wasn't used to giving gifts, to offering generosity to anyone. After all, giving a gift was like giving a piece of yourself, and his self wasn't worth much. Not to anyone. He waited for the heel-turn, for her to look at him and tell him that his gift was as worthless and useless and terrible as he always believed himself to be.

"Do you like it?"

"Like it?" All at once, Darcy's frantic motions around the lab stopped. She blinked at him, then closed the space between them, and laced her fingers through his. A simple gesture. A human gesture. But one that threatened to shatter the wall of ice he'd frozen around his heart. "I love it. Thank you."

Thor, the former prince and King of Asgard and current Guardian of the Galaxy—or so he was told their ragtag group of miscreants was called—woke to the sounds of "Centerfold," one of the Rabbit's favorite songs, blaring through the ship's audio systems. Groaning, he rolled out of bed and prepared himself for the day of saving the universe.

Out in the ship's main galley, he found no sign of the rest of his fellow Guardians, but the small leader of their group was up in the ship's wiring overhead, sparking cables in an attempt to fix something Thor couldn't quite place.

After all, he was the brawn in this ship. He left the tinkering to the Rabbit and that human who didn't like him very much.

"Ah, Rocket Rabbit, our fearless Captain. How are you this fine morning?"

"Thor, it's space. There isn't morning and night. You've got to get used to that, pal. Just like you've got to get used to picking up your own bunk. If I trip over another bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos, I'm going to shove you outta an airlock, you understand?"

"Perfectly, my Rabbit friend." Thor bounded to the captain's chair, where he called up the command screen and began tapping up the communications board in search of their next adventure. "What word on the wireless, then? Any communications? Any jobs that need doing?"

"Get away from that thing. There's nothing for you."

That piqued Thor's interest. His fingers flew across the command screen now, searching for the most recent incoming transmissions. "Then there is something for someone else, I assume? Well, I'm sure no one would mind if I just—"

"Don't touch that—"

But it was too late. By the time the little Rabbit screamed out to him, diving from the wires to land heavy on Thor's shoulders, he'd already pressed the large orange button, activating the latest news transmission from Earth.

The footage sank Thor's stomach, heavy as if he'd swallowed Mjilnor itself. His morning joviality disappeared. Because, before him, was holographic footage of his brother—his own brother, his dead brother—very much alive, ruling some planet called Freygard.

"What is this?" Thor demanded. "Is this old footage?"

Rocket slid off of his shoulders, his voice small. "No, it was from this morning."

"Loki is out there?"

"Yeah, but Thor, he ain't the one you remember—"

Thor wasn't listening. He was already halfway across the ship. If his brother was out there, he would find him. "I must go to him. Rabbit! Pack my Cheetos and my best armor! I am going to Freygard!"

I can't wait to see what you think of this chapter and the Thor of it all! Thanks for reading!