So… I had been working on this story for a while and I was trying to remain strong and not post it, but I couldn't help it. I had that itch. Well, this is my first Loki/OC fic and I am sort of scared, I guess? But, I hope you enjoy it! I have at least five chapters written up of it and if you guys like it I'll continue posting it! :)

Running Up a Hill: My name is Alexandra Marie Harmon. I am twenty-four years old. I am part of the lowest of the low in Chicago and deserve to have a slap to my mouth time to time. I am a con woman, who got conned, and I only wanted answers… Well, for your information, Loki Laufeyson gave me more than that. Loki/OC

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I wouldn't be here if I did. I would be on my own private island sipping a nice margarita or something. However I do own my OC, Alexandra, and other characters that you do not recognize, along with the plot.

The Plot of a Con

I looked up from my corner, the night blanketing the windy city as the loud sound of my cards shuffled together. The sound reminded me of my time last week in Vegas and brought a taunting smile on my face. A bowl of bills and change was settled next to me. I maybe had earned eighty dollars from my endeavor of the day, which was considerably good since I stood out here in the cold, alleyway for at least an hour. The fire rising from a nearby tin of trash kept me warm—somewhat, there was a few homeless people around it in rags that it was warming first.

The game I played started with a bet of ten dollars. You had to find the Queen of Hearts, which wasn't hard to do the first time around. Then, I made it double. They would know my game and how I played it first and thinking that they would get me again, they do it. Needless to say, I was unbeatable the second time around.

"Are you ever going to give this up?" One homeless man had asked me. I acknowledged him only by raising my eyebrow. "Some people are touchy when it comes to money." I actually had come to know this one while standing here. His name was Ty, lost his factory job a while back and sometimes I'd give him money out of my pot for staying with me. He wore rags that hung loosely on him and he looked like he hardly ate. He was a nice man and I enjoyed his company very much.

I retorted, "No shit, Sherlock. That's the fun of it." Since I was younger, I enjoyed making people despise me—no, that didn't sound right, I enjoyed lighting a fire under people's asses—not literally. Sorry, those were bad analogies. It was always a joy that came over me seeing people get hot and bothered—I was the class clown in my school's superlatives. Ty shook his head at me disapprovingly before rubbing his hands.

"You're young, don't spend your time with low lives in the street." He said to me with a scowl on his face. I swear, sometimes he acted like a father to me. He was a father once, I knew that, but he wasn't mine. "Get a real job."

"I have one, this is for fun." I told Ty honestly. My day job didn't involve this and currently, in my present state, my day job didn't want me. They wanted a girl with a pretty, unscathed face. And right now, I still had bruises on my cheek and a split lip that didn't heal right away because I bit it all the time. "Why are you complaining? I give you at least half of what I earn."

"I've seen people do this for years." He told me, almost sounding wise. I looked away from him, almost as if I knew where this was going. "They end up dead."

"I'm flattered that you care about me, but my business is my business." I didn't bother looking up as the sound of my cards cut through the air. The sound was thick and it almost made me shutter in the cold. I could feel Ty's brown eyes on me for a brief moment before they looked away. I wouldn't have ended up dead. No one was that touchy with money unless it was with drugs.

I wasn't dealing drugs, last time I checked. I was doing a card trick.

Another man, his name was George, then said to me, "What you mean you give him half of what you earn?"

George was taller than me by a foot. He was definitely 6'5' and his build wasn't much. He was a stick compared to many his height. George didn't come here frequently; in fact, this was the third time I saw him around. "Exactly how that sounds." I said smartly, shuffling my cards still.

"You weren't planning on giving us any? We're down on our luck just as much as he is."

"I'll give you all a share of what I earn then." I said, ending it quickly. This was an argument I didn't want to get into. Money was a touchy subject; some of these people didn't care for it. But the share that the four there would get would barely be enough for a whole meal. But the night was still young, I would most likely stay here for two more hours and then we would see how much I would earn.

George had shut up at that. Ty looked up at me and for once, I thanked the fact that the only light we had in this alley was from the fire and a lamp on a wall behind me. He couldn't see what happened to me, which was good enough for me because he was blind as a bat anyway. I didn't need to explain my 'battle wounds' as I liked to call them.

The cards in my hand slapped together and on the sidewalk, I caught someone walking slowly. His eyes roamed around him curiously and he looked like he was lost. "Hey!" I bellowed out after a moment. I noted that he was only wearing a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt. It was hardly suitable for this night, really. It wasn't snowing, but it was freezing. I had to make it a point to actually bring my jacket with me out tonight. The man stopped in his place and his head slowly turned to me. He tilted it slightly.

Ty managed to groan, not bothering to look behind his shoulder. "Yes, you there. Are you a bit lost?"

"Where am I?" He asked me from where I was. I raised my brow at him and noticed how he swayed slightly where he stood. I thought he was drunk at first and that was perhaps the best news of the night. Drunks were easy bait. "Answer me." He said to me more forcibly, but not moving toward me.

I taunted with a smirk, "Come here and I might." It took him a bit. The glare I had received from Ty did not go unnoticed by me as the footsteps of this man approached. That was when I realized that this man wasn't even wearing a pair of shoes. It made me shiver just from the cold this man might have felt and just as I thought that, a brush of cold air played with my hair. I lived in the windy city and the wind here always happened to be cold.

The woman with the homeless men spared me a glance before giving this man the once over. There was something in her once over that wasn't clear to me, but I noticed something glazing over her eyes. He asked me again, but this time more forcibly than before, "Where am I, Midgardian? You are trying my patience." What did he just call me?

I raised my brow at this before I told him, "Midtown." I didn't think I even wanted to know what a 'Midgardian' was.

"In the middle of what town? Your answer is too vague." He spoke like he was of royalty, something out of a Shakespearian play—or the Shakespearian plays that I have read. I stared at him for a moment before gathering the cards in my hand. I didn't really like his tone of voice, to be quite honest. He talked down to me and this wasn't because he almost matched the height of George, it was mostly because—well, I thought so anyway—that he thought he was above me, yet he wasn't even wearing a pair of shoes. I didn't answer him right away. "I have no time for your insolence."

"Chicago. You are in Chicago." I said to him, setting my jaw. I didn't like him already and this could go one or two ways. I could just leave him at that or play with him for a little while. But the fact that he called me a word I didn't understand and said what I was doing was 'insolence' made my first impression of him not good. There was no need to be rude. Even if someone was about to hustle you, you should be nice in case they'd take mercy against you. "It's awfully chilly out here, you could catch a cold."

"It does not affect me like it may you." He said to me bitingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I can see that," I retorted. I made my split second decision then, not really noticing how the man was eying my hands as I was smoothing my cards out on my makeshift table. "But since you are wandering around like a lost pup, do you want to pass the time with a little game I made up?"

"Game?" The disdain in his voice was plain to hear. "I have no time for your mortal games."

"Oh, but it's easy and no one has really beaten me yet." I gestured over to the bowl. Now that the man was closer to me, I noticed his sharp, facial features. He was extremely pale and though he looked to be thin, I could faintly see the muscle lining his arms. He had dark hair reaching to about his shoulders and faint green eyes. He barely even glanced over at the bowl full of my earnings, but I did see his eyes light up when I said no one has really beaten me.

He considered me for a moment and I noticed how his eyes stopped at the bruising on my face. I looked at him directly in his eyes as I took my Queen of Hearts and two other random cards. "And think of it this way, I'll do something special for you. I'll give you all of what is in the pot if you beat me in two rounds." From the corner of my eye, I saw Ty's head pick up at the sound of that. "You could even buy yourself a new pair of shoes with that money."

"Am I right to say that you require some sort of… currency for this little 'game' you have?" Oh, he was smart.

"Well, the money there isn't my own. I won it fairly." I heard a scoff come from the fire and it took all of my will to not shoot a glare over at him. "All is fair in this game."

"The old man does not seem to think so." He replied to me, his gaze locking with mine as if he was trying to see right through me. I was going to kill Ty after this if it wasn't going to go well.

"You wouldn't think the game to be fair once the opponent won either." I said quickly, hoping that would be enough to seal the deal. I licked my bottom lip nervously, my tongue glazing over the split in my lip and stinging it slightly. It wasn't going to heal right. "But, you seem very worthy to play and I suspect that you are about to play me."

"How much exactly do you want for a game?"

"I like you, so I think I'll give you the five dollar discount." I said to him slowly, flipping up my cards so that I could explain the game to him. He looked at me curiously before I clarified, "Five dollars. If you want to go about it again, ten." We stared at each other for a moment before his hands went behind his back. I wasn't sure what he was doing until he pulled out a five dollar bill from behind there. I honestly didn't think that this guy had money on him. He patted it down on the table.

"Explain it." He practically demanded it of me.

"You have to find the Queen of Hearts after I mixed them." I fixed my sleeve and flexed my fingers. "We go one round, and then another, and then another. If you win two of those, then you win the whole pot. If you don't, then I take your money and you'll have a chance to do it at the regular price." It was the oldest con in the book, everyone knew it and if you didn't you were an idiot. But since everyone knew this classic, they still tried to beat the person dealing the challenge. It was like the shell game, to be honest, but I enjoyed my cards a lot more.

The man looked up at the dark sky for a moment, murmuring something along the lines of, "You petty humans," I furrowed my brow at that as he decided to look back at me. "I accept this challenge of yours with great pleasure, mortal." That pleasure was going to disappear soon enough.

"This mortal is called Alexandra, also called Alex." I said to him, "But I am glad you accept my challenge, my liege." I mockingly added, bowing my head slightly to the man. I noticed a scowl pull at his lips and I took that as my cue. "I'd pay attention if I were you." I started to him, taking my eyes off of him to focus my attention with my cards. I felt his eyes still on me.

I swallowed thickly and went over quickly in my head as I did every time. I always had to get my practices in my head in order to get them right. And then, I proceeded, going about the cards in a slow way, flipping them over while doing so. The man's eyes went from me to the cards, several times as I moved them slowly and gently. The Queen of Hearts didn't move until the very end and when I finished I looked up.

He seemed to be expecting more out of me. He stared at the three cards for a moment before his eyes matched mine. I smirked at him. "This is all too obvious."

"It always is obvious." I told him honestly. "But you'd be surprised how many people get it wrong."

"It is the one to your left." The man had pointed out to me. My eyebrows perked at that and I flipped the card to reveal that he was right. "If that is your game, then I am really wasting my time and patience on it."

"We have another round." I informed him honestly. "And it gets harder by the rounds, don't worry."

"We shall see then," he said to me, his face was expressionless.

I smirked to myself before I looked down at my cards, flipping the Queen to face downward. The man in front of me tilted his chin as I took the cards on either end. The routine was the same every time and I practiced it to a tee. I had to do this one fast because of the bigger stakes. Even though, there was no changing in my methods. I moved the cards around, quickening my pace from last time by a lot and my hands were a blur as they worked on the makeshift table. I didn't know if the man's eyes were really on the cards or on me because he kept glancing back and forth. But I took the chance of swapping my Queen with the card under my sleeve and then placed it in the middle.

With one final switch of cards, I looked up at him. His face was genuinely tight with concentration as he looked at the cards. "I'm waiting," I taunted him with a crooked grin. He glanced up at me before pointing to the middle card. I could have laughed at him.

"Are you certain?"

"More than certain." The man looked up at me, picking up his head and he matched my crooked grin as if he knew something that I didn't. I furrowed my brow at him confused before I went to the middle card, and almost apprehensively, I flipped it. My eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.

Shit… That was… that was the card under my sleeve. My mouth parted in shock and immediately I went to feel the end of my sleeve to feel the hard card under it. I knew I swapped them too. I made sure I did.

This was… this was impossible!

The man took glory in watching my face contort. "You have said that no one has ever beat you in this sort of game?"

"I—."

"Hmm, how interesting." The man said, a smug look coming over his face. I tried to close my mouth to not look like a gaping fish, but it was difficult. He glanced over to the pot of money next to me. "Well, I suppose that this is mine now. You could keep the one I have given you, maybe you could buy yourself a new pair of shoes."

"How… how nice of you." I managed to say, my eyes on my pot of money. He took it within his hands. The man that was so demanding and rude before actually seemed quite pleased with himself now. He knew what he was doing with me. But I didn't understand how what happened actually happened. I didn't stop him from walking away with my money. I just watched his retreating figure in shock.

Ty looked up at me with his face twisting. "How—?"

I stopped him short, bringing myself out of my temporary stupor. "What the fuck?" I asked myself, looking down at my cards and flipping them all to see a sight I didn't expect to see. "That's…"

"Alex…" Ty started, stepping away from the fire to come over to me. My eyes were stuck on the cards to see that they all resembled the same one. Ty came over to me and by the time he did, his eyes glazed over the three cards confused. I took out the Queen of Hearts—the original Queen of Hearts—and stared at it. "You didn't do that, did you?"

I slowly shook my head. Now I really did look like a gaping fish as my hand skimmed each one. "No… I-I didn't. This is impossible."

"Great job, Harmon! You lost us our money!" George shouted, not paying attention to the current situation. Ty gave him a reprimanding look before I took each card in my hand. I did whatever I possibly could to see if it was real. I flapped the card in the air, I scratched it, and I even smelled it. They even smelled of my cigarettes that I rarely smoked.

I repeated again, "Impossible."

"The con woman got conned." Ty commented. "Maybe that would be a lesson to ya." A scowl toward him appeared on my face as I gathered my cards. Whoever this man was, not only did he ruin my deck forever, he also conned the wrong con. And I was more upset because I didn't know how he had done it. Lately, my tricks hadn't been up to par, proving that from last week, but I had never messed this up. "What are you doing?"

I put the cards back in their box and was about to pick up my bowl to remember that it was no longer there. My mind was racing with both anger and confusion. My deflated pride wanted to get my money back. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You aren't seriously going to go after a man who has took your money fairly."

"He hasn't taken it fairly," I said to him flatly, picking up my purse and dropping my cards inside of there. "He cheated."

"Like you were doing to get his money."

"No, I wasn't cheating," I said to him walking around my table to go down the alley. I turned on my heel to face him while walking backward. "What I was doing and what he was doing are two different things." I still cannot tell you the difference, but then I thought, sure as hell I thought, there was a difference. Before Ty could even respond, I turned around and walked down the alley.

"How do you expect to find him?"

"Keep the five!" I shouted, ignoring the question. It was a dumb question anyway. The man didn't even know that he was in Chicago. I doubted that he was far from us. With that thought, I walked down the block, my eyes searching around it to find the man, looking in the store windows while just trying to spot him on the sidewalk. I lowered the speed of my pace by the time I stopped at Payless, my heart was beating against my chest and I felt the heat rise up to my cheeks.

I huffed loudly, hoping that some of my anger would be released through that, but it wasn't. I had the wool pulled over my eyes and that wasn't supposed to happen. I would have rather got my ass kicked by him for doing what I did, not be outsmarted by a man who had the same length of hair I did.

I leaned against the store window, my eyes searching the street. "Beg pardon," the smooth voice came from behind me, and its smoothness reminded me of silk. My eyes widened, surprised with how close his voice was to me. I felt his breath hit my ear. Gulping, I stood where I was as he went on, "I believe you are looking for me."

I looked behind my shoulder and almost immediately my body was pushed against the store window. I yelped surprised with the amount of force he held me with. There was barely anyone on the streets because of the time and his hand inched its way to my collarbone. His touch made me breathe in sharply and I was faced with his green irises. "You actually thought that a mere mortal like you could pull one over me."

"I… I have a name, stop calling me that." I told him my name, didn't I? I didn't understand why he kept calling me 'mortal' or 'Midgardian'. My name was Alexandra and I wanted to be called that, Alex was also fine too.

He ignored me, "I do admire your efforts at trickery." I looked at him carefully, going through the sentence in my head. Who would say those things? No one talked like that any more! "But… for you to actually think that you could trick the God of Mischief, an Asgardian Prince, you are a fool."

What? He gritted his teeth at me angrily, waiting for me to reply but I was awfully confused. I looked at him for a moment with a furrowed brow. His face was inches away from mine and now that I see it, I could connect it to something. "Are you going to say anything or are you just going to gape and stare at me?"

The question asked brought me to the moment, but the nagging familiarity of him was still bothersome. I tried to dismiss it and think back to the God of Mischief and Asgardian Prince. Both of those things were part of stories that I had learned when I was a child. "Asgard?" I asked him unsure, which resulted in me actually being pushed harder against the glass window. Any further, and I think I would have been pushed right through. "The place doesn't exist."

"Are you sure about that?" A devilish smile came on his face and it made his eyes cast a shadow. His eyes were so sunken in. I stared at him, still trying hard to place him. "For someone who had so many words to say before, you are awfully quiet now." He noted to me, his brow being furrowed toward me curiously and the smile on his face faltered slightly.

"That's because I think you're insane. You're telling me you're from Asgard and are… no…" I said after a brief moment. My face actually fell when I look over him and I no longer cared for the fact that he took my money over a trick he pulled over my own. The face, now that it was this close, now that I had seen the shadow of his eyes, was a face I was more than unlikely to forget. His hold lightened on me and he tilted his head up to look down at me. I shook my head at him, almost like I wanted to deny the obvious fact, "You aren't…"

"Oh, so you do know of me?" He asked me, his eyes lighting up for a moment. My breathing had become shallow and my chest rose slowly. I didn't take my eyes off of him, but I was sure that he could smell the fear coming off of me. The smile came back and I heard a chuckle escape from him. Mockingly, he noted, "How quaint."

"Let me go," I said to him quickly. The anger flushed itself out of me and fear replaced it firmly. "Please, let me go."

"And why should I?" He asked me, "You were so determined to talk to me before but now that I have your attention, you would rather not have mine."

"You… you were the one that destroyed New York. You killed all those innocent people." I told him, remembering his face on my television, remembering wanting throw something at the newscaster because I wasn't getting enough information. I remembered how the camera flashed to his face, showing it for at least a minute on top of the Stark Tower. I swallowed as he leaned in close to me, his hand still firmly on my collarbone. "I-I saw you… on the news… several times actually."

"You are an observant one, I could tell." He said to me in almost a hiss. "I am Loki of Asgard, the God of Mischief, and you are nothing but a mere mortal, what do you think is going to happen now that you have recognized me?"

"H-Hopefully not what I think is going to happen." I mustered out.

"I could snap your neck right here," he warned me.

"But you wouldn't do that," I started to him quickly. Pray tell, the voice in my head interjected. Admittedly, I did say that without any thought at all. He looked at me curiously; his eyebrow rose like he was amused by me.

I plucked one of the possible reasons out of my head and said it. "You just said that you admired my efforts at trickery…" Are you dumb? I added immediately after, talking fast, "And we are out in the open and I know you're smart, to orchestrate that attack on your own in New York. This store has cameras somewhere outside of it, recording this and if they see you snap my neck, they'd be looking for you. It would be a stupid move on your part."

That was more logical. I held his gaze for a lot longer, longer than it should have been because soon his hand was dropped and he stared at me, taking a step back. I could almost hear a growl from deep in his throat. The man who claimed to be Loki, the God of Mischief, said to me, "And now that you know who I am, what do you suppose you are going to do about it?"

"I'm—."

"You are not going to tell anyone about me," Loki said to me with a shake of his head. He put a finger to his mouth before stating, "If you do… tell a soul, I will have to kill you then and you strike me as the type who enjoys her life."

"I won't tell on you." I told him, shocking myself. Was I going crazy? "I just want to know how you did that back there."

"I am a God." Loki answered me swiftly, but the chuckle he added sounded uncertain, almost as if he didn't know the answer himself. "You needn't to ask how I have—."

"Your face back there begged to differ." I said to him quickly, remembering the surprise he had on his face when he produced a five-dollar bill and gave it to me. I didn't realize it until then though. I wasn't paying attention to him when I was trying to play him, but I could have sworn that I saw a look of surprise on his face. "And you changed all of my cards to Queens, mind you. You ruined my deck."

"I never did such a thing."

"You are the God of Mischief, it wouldn't surprise me. The actual card was hidden underneath my sleeve." I retorted to him coldly, mockingly also, throwing the card that was still in my sleeve at his face. It barely even made it there and instead it went against his neck, barely leaving a scratch on it. "You cheated… somehow."

"All was fair in the game. You weren't exactly clear on the rules."

The glare I gave him was scornful and a deep hatred came to my gut. Now, I understood how it was like when your system was beat. Last week, when I counted cards, I didn't understand it. I was as smug as he was while they beat me after I had gotten caught. But now my game was beat, by him, and I wanted to hit him. He noticed this, of course, and he ventured a step toward me. I involuntary took a step away from him.

He laughed at this, pointing a finger at me and tilting his head to the side. "I am not going to bring harm to you."

"I somehow doubt that."

"Well… I will not bring harm to you yet." Loki admitted to me after a moment and that made me even more anxious. I straightened my shoulders. We stood there in silence for a moment. "I do, however, require your assistance."

"I'm not one to assist terrorists, so sorry." I said to him with sarcasm. My arms crossed over my chest. I should have walked away, I should have walked away and left him there, no matter what had just happened in the alley. But I was frozen in my place. I couldn't do anything other than stand there and look at him.

Loki looked at me calculatingly before I saw his jaw move. I noticed then how sharp his jawline was. If he was right about being a God, I could see it through his sharp features. If I wasn't smart, I think I would have believed he was when he told me at first. "Are you really so certain of that?"

It was a strange question and I realized that I asked him the same thing before I revealed the Queen he so happily picked. Was he mocking me? Or was I so paranoid that I thought he was mocking me? My eyes locked with his before my jaw shifted and before I knew it, I was leading the insane man to my apartment that wasn't too far away.

So, did you like it? Hate it? Despise it? Utterly despised it? Or… love it, maybe? I hope you did. Thank you for reading the first chapter! I hope I wrote Loki right, and if I didn't, let me know on what I could approve on :). If people enjoyed it, I'll definitely keep posting this fic (kinda seeing how people think of it right now...)

Thanks again for reading!