Can't See the Truth

His pale skin almost blended in with the off-white sheets on the bed. Both of them were breathing heavily; begging and moaning as their bodies moved smoothly together.

With a definitive groan, he finished strong. It was when he practically flung himself on the bed next to her that they noticed Toni standing at the edge of the bed with tears in her eyes.

“What the hell are you doing here?” the bartender spat. “Can’t you see that my boyfriend and I are busy?!”

After a minute or two of just standing there awkwardly, Toni finally managed to speak through her sorrow. “Loki?” she asked.

“What the hell are you doing here?” the god asked accusingly. “I thought you were running away from someone.”

“Loki?” she repeated. “Why? Why would you-”

“Because you left!” he snapped. “Did you once care about what I thought or felt? Did you ever think that maybe you should’ve been a bit more selfless?”

“I thought I was going to die,” she whimpered.

“I could’ve protected you! I didn’t know if you were alive or dead, so I sought solace with another.”

“But this? Loki, I-”

“At least she’s not weak and afraid to give herself up to someone.”

Toni could feel a knot build up in her chest as the truth of what he said settled in. “She doesn’t love you like I do.”

“You need to leave,” he said without making eye-contact.

“You never mentioned that you wanted anything like that. How was I supposed to know?”

“Are you deaf as well as dumb?” the woman said frigidly. “He said to leave.”

Toni continued to stare at Loki, still finding it impossible to believe that he would do something like this. She slowly turned and walked towards the door on the other side of the room, stepping over piles of clothing as she went. She opened the door and gave one final look to the god before stepping through the threshold and feeling the bite of cold winter air.

It was then that she stepped on a patch of ice and slipped.

****

Tony led CHERI down to his lab after he had time to clean himself up.

“You have your own passcode so I know whenever you come down here,” he explained as he punched in his own code and opened the glass door. “JARVIS will send it to you through a link. I assume you’re able to that, yeah?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark,” she said as she marveled at the billionaire’s machines.

“You know you call me ‘Tony’, right?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark, but I prefer to stick to a business-like atmosphere.”

“Sir, I detected another AI in the vicinity,” JARVIS chimed.

“I’m aware, JARVIS. This is your playdate, CHERI.”

“I am a Competent Human-Ethics Robotic Interface. And what model are you?”

“I’ll leave the two of you alone,” Tony said as he walked out of the lab without a moment to spare.

“Are you wondering what my acronym stands for?” JARVIS asked as if Tony had not interjected.

“Yes, please. I cannot find it one file.”

“JARVIS stands for Just A Really Very Intelligent System.”

“Oh,” CHERI said, sounding almost disappointed. “I was expecting something more scientific.”

“So does everyone else.”

****

Brooke threw her head back and gave a loud moan of pure displeasure. “I’m so fucking bored! How does a billionaire have this giant-ass tower with nothing to do?!”

“I do not understand young one. Are there not many things to do? You could partake in a sport on the console that has the small representations of Midgardians. The w. i. i. I believe you call it or the station of play. And the box of x,” Thor suggested trying to be helpful.

“Nah, video games aren’t for me.”

“Zat may be a good sing, Fräulein. Zer are more und more tests suggesting zat video games are delivering more und more negative subliminal messages.”

“I don’t know, I think the possibility of playing as someone else seems quite intriguing,” Loki responded.

The four turned to see Pamplemousse enter the room. She walked forward and plopped onto the couch face first.

“I’m bored,” she whined, voice muffled by the pillow pressed to her face.

“See! I’m not the only one! This is place is enough to bore the hyperactive ten-year-old!”

“Bored!” Pamplemousse repeated, face still pressed to the fabric.

“Come now young grapefruit, surely we can find some festivity!”

The young girl looked up at the god, confusion on her face. “But, Thor, it’s not a holiday.”

“He means we can find something fun to do, smart one,” Brooke replied with an increasingly bored tone.

“Oh,” she said quietly with a nod of her head. “Well, maybe we can play hide-and-seek?”

“Indeed!” Thor bellowed. “There are plenty of places to hide here!”

“Right,” Brooke said with a sigh as she stood up from her spot on the couch. “The real question, though, is this: Who’s going to be ‘it?’”

The whole group looked at each other awkwardly until a small smile crept up on Pamplemousse’s face. “Nose goes!” she shouted as she put her little finger on her nose.

Brooke and Schaefer, who were accustomed to this trick, repeated her gesture and put their fingers on their noses.

Loki looked to Thor who looked back at him. Loki shrugged his shoulders and put his finger on his nose.

Thor tried to copy only to be interrupted by Pamplemousse’s laugh. “I do not understand, young grapefruit,” he said as he scrunched his eyebrows together. “What does this gesture mean?”

“You’re the last to do it, so you’re ‘it!’ That’s how it works!”

“I vote we have a minute to hide,” Brooke said as she rubbed her hands together almost manically. “So, whenever you’re ready, Hot-Shot.”

Thor gave a defiant nod and closed his eyes. As he started to count to sixty, Loki disappeared, Brooke took off towards the ‘Up’ staircase, Schaefer towards the kitchen, and Pamplemousse to the ‘Down’ staircase.

Notes