(Disclaimer: I don't own anything but a strange urge to twist two male friends into lovers all the time… so here's what happens when I watch Dogma while being sick.)

"Stop leering at me like that. People will think I just broke up with you…"

Loki stared, jaw dropped, at Bartleby. It wasn't the first time Bartleby'd used this particular phrase to get him to stop staring, and it wouldn't be the last, but still, Loki stared.

"Loki? You okay?" Bartleby's hand brushed some hair from his friends face.

Loki continued to stare.

"Loki!" The tone of Bartleby's voice had turned from friendly to angry. "Stop it, Loki!" Bartleby's hand moved back and smacked Loki across the face.

Loki snapped out of it. "Sorry." He mumbled, holding his cheek where he'd been slapped. "I was just thinking." Loki smiled, a pure and simple smile, and turned away, facing the other direction.

"What were you thinking about?" Bartleby's voice was messed up with the sound of him eating popcorn.

Loki shook his head and kept his eyes in the other direction. He was looking for a member of the clergy to mess with. He needed someone to talk to. Someone that wasn't Bartleby.

"You can tell me, Loki."

"It's nothing." Loki stood and walked over to a young nun. She must have just joined the convent, because she still had a bit of rambunctiousness in her. It was in the way she walked, and the way she had her hair slightly falling in her face.

She smiled at Loki. "I feel your faith." She said, startling Loki, slightly. Usually the clergy seemed to stay away from him; he always thought they sensed his bitterness toward the Creator.

"Faith?" Loki asked.

"Oh yes. There's something coming from you… it's delightful." She started to walk away, farther from Bartleby. Loki looked back at Bartleby, he was watching Loki, so Loki quickly turned followed the nun.

Loki walked in front of her, to make her stop moving. "What do you mean?"

"You're in love." She smiled. "You're in love and soon you'll be able to tell the other person how you feel. And they'll feel the same. It's God's doing, you know. He made it so you weren't alone here on Earth. He gave you a partner."

The words stung Loki like a slap in the face. I'm about to tell the person I love that I love them? He looked back at Bartleby. He was still watching. Had he been closer, he'd have whispered. "Don't leer at me like that… people will think I just broke up with you." In that teasing voice he'd well since accomplished.

"God did that?" Loki said, looking back at the nun. She nodded. "God made it so I wouldn't be alone down here?" Did that mean that God only brought Bartleby down because Loki had done something wrong?

"He brought you together because you need each other…"

"Doubt that." Loki mumbled, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. What was he suppose to do? Walk up to Bartleby and just tell him he loved him? No. That would never ever happen. Even if they had to spend another millennia down here on Earth, Loki wouldn't risk their friendship over something as… stupid as love. Love didn't count anymore. Bartleby was always talking about how love was fake.

"Don't doubt love. God has your plan cut out for you, sir. I feel that he wants you to be with this person." She turned and walked away, again. Loki let her go. He frowned and made his way back to Bartleby.

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Bartleby frowned. Why was Loki acting so distant all of the sudden? Really, it wasn't all of the sudden. Loki'd been staring randomly into space for as long as he could remember. It just seemed as time went by, the more Loki stared and the harder it was to break him from his trances.

Bartleby thought about what Loki must be thinking. How much he missed raining sulfur on people, probably. He probably missed sitting next to God, doing all His dirty work. He was a lapdog for The Man. Bartleby sighed and leaned back, keeping his focus on Loki and the nun.

Bartleby missed the Devine Presents too… really badly. How he wished he could go back up to Heaven and drink a post-slaughter drink with Loki as the blonde angel told exaggerated stories of his performance.

But he had Loki, and that was enough to keep him going. Loki was so innocent, for being the Angel of Death. He understood the deadly sins, and all of that, he knew about Sodom and Gomorrah, what the sister towns did, why they got destroyed. He even saw what they did, first hand. But it didn't phase him, he was still innocent Loki.

It must be because he was the Angel of Death. The things that use to make Bartleby shiver never bothered Loki at all. He could kill with a grin and come away with no remorse, but still acting like a five year old.

That was why Bartleby loved Loki.

Loki was really thinking hard about something, Bartleby decided, grinning. He always got that look on his face when he was thinking. He wouldn't talk to Bartleby when he was thinking about that thing, but it didn't bother Bartleby because he was positive he knew what Loki was thinking about.

Loki must know that Bartleby loved him, and he had to figure out a way to get away from him.

Loki was too… fragile to run around on his own, though. Bartleby could do things to Loki that could make someone sob themselves to sleep every night, and Loki would stay. Bartleby wasn't phased that Loki knew.

But Bartleby still wished, just once, Loki would feel the same way back.

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Loki sat down next to Bartleby and leaned back with a sigh. He didn't say anything, and Bartleby let the silence continue for a few agonizing minutes before saying. "Talk to me, Loki. Just tell me what you think."

Loki frowned and closed his eyes. "I don't want to say."

"I can handle it." Bartleby promised, in that voice that made Loki want to hug him, and tell him. However, he stayed quiet and Bartleby sighed. "Do you want me to start you off?"

Loki blushed. "You… What do you mean? You know?"

Bartleby was slightly confused by the blush. "Me. Right?"

Loki nodded slowly. "Yes. You." Loki's heart raced, but Bartleby didn't seem to care for a few minutes before he said it again.

"Stop leering at me like that. People are going to think I just broke up with you."

"We're not going out!" Loki blurted out. "You can't break up with me if we aren't going out!"

Some people looked and Bartleby blushed softly at their gazes. "I.. I'm sorry, Loki. I didn't mean to offend you…"

Loki looked angry. "Stop. Stop teasing me. You always do that."

"Loki… I'm not…"

"You are so. You always say I look at you like you broke up with me. The look isn't a 'I just got broke up with' look, Bartleby. It's a 'I wonder if he would go out with me' look." Loki blushed and looked away.

Bartleby was shocked. He wondered if he heard him right. "You wonder if I'll go out with you?" Loki nodded, and Bartleby sat back, staring at his empty popcorn box.

"Just forget it." Loki said, a few seconds later, sounding more hurt than when he actually got thrown from Heaven, and walked away, off into a crowd where Bartleby would have trouble finding him.

Unfortunately, the two lived together, so when Bartleby failed to find Loki in the crowd, he found him lying on his bed in his room.

Loki looked at Bartleby for a second, before rolling over to face the wall. Bartleby slowly walked in and sat down next to him on the bed. They were quiet for a while.

"Where would you like to go?" Bartleby asked, quietly, a few minutes later.

Loki looked over at him. "What?"

"You're giving me that look again." Bartleby smiled. "So where do you want to go?" Loki sat up and put his hand on Bartleby's shoulder.

Bartleby smiled and put his hand on the back of Loki's head, bring him close enough to kiss him. "It took you that long, Loki? It took you that long to figure out I liked you?"

Loki grinned. "Actually, that nun I was talking to said I had found love and that God made it happen just for us… and that the person felt the same way. So I was pissed at her when you just looked at me like I grew another head."

"I thought you were thinking about how to live with someone who you knew loved you…"

"I didn't know you did."

Bartleby grinned and pulled Loki in the final inch, sharing a kiss they'd waited all eternity to share.