To Teach a Trickster

Loki rolled over in bed and scowled up at the ceiling. What was the use of having people at your disposal if they weren’t going to do what you wanted them to do?

“I am NOT bringing your breakfast to you!” Jane shouted from the other side of the door. “If you want it, you can drag your spoiled, lazy rear out of that bed and come into the kitchen and get it! I told you before that I am not your personal servant.”

Loki reached over and picked up the digital clock on the night table.

“And don’t you dare throw anything else out a window!” Jane shouted.

Loki roughly set the clock down. How did she know? Could she see through the door?

“I don’t feel like getting out of bed today.” he said.

“You can starve, then.”

“If I was in Asgard, my personal servants would bring whatever I wanted to me.”

“You aren’t in Asgard. You’re in my home. Around here, if you want something you get it yourself. Odin put you here to learn some lessons, right? Well, the first lesson you’re going to learn is how to do things for yourself. You’ve got legs. Use them.”

After she said her piece, Jane stomped off through the living room and into the kitchen. The morning hadn’t started out very well. Loki had woken up in an extra ornery mood. He refused to get up and expected her to bring breakfast to him, even though he already knew perfectly well that she wasn’t going to.

“Bu-but I don’t feel well.” Loki lied with a whine. “I think I’m ill with something. Probably some horrid disease from this wretched realm.”

“You look fine to me.” Jane walked through the living room and up to Loki. The trickster was peeking out of the bedroom door. “You must be or you wouldn’t have made it this far. Get dressed and come on. And I want you to clean up your room after we eat.”

“What for?” he said, irritably.

“I told you that you’re going to have to clean up after yourself as long as you stay here. Keeping your room picked up is part of it.”

“I don’t have to if I don’t want to! If I was on Asgard the servants would do it for me!” He slammed the door shut and silence followed.

Jane sighed. “Why me?”

Loki eventually came out of his bedroom and fixed himself a bowl of cereal and some toast in the new toaster that Darcy brought by the day before. While eating, he occasionally glanced at the piece of cardboard taped over the hole in the window and smirked like it was a work of art.

“I see you’ve finally emerged,” said Jane walking by. “Was it hard for the poor baby to get out of bed and walk in here?”

Loki glared at her dangerously. “Do not call me that again.”

“Well, don’t act like it and I won’t,” Jane answered, finally finding the notebook she was looking for under a pile of papers at the other end of the table.

“It wouldn’t hurt for you to serve me. I’m not used to doing things on my own,” said Loki, taking a bite of cereal.

“This coming from the man who shouted that he could take care of himself?” Jane’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Loki was silent. “Mm-hm, nice trick. Guess what? This is what it means to take care of yourself. Be sure to clean up after you get through. Just leave the dishes in the sink.” She tossed a wet dish rag on the table before leaving the room. “And I expect you to get to work on your room after you get through. Otherwise, no lunch for you until you do clean it.”

Loki stared at the rag as if he could will it out of existence. A tear formed in his eye and he sniffed it away. He wasn’t sure how much more he would be able to take of this.

Later that morning, Jane sat at the kitchen table, her laptop open in front of her and a collection of different gadgets, charts, and photos spread out around it. She was deep into studying a chart on her laptop’s screen and jotting down notes. So much so that she didn’t even hear Loki approach until he dumped an armful of clothes onto the floor at her feet. She jumped in surprise and looked down then up at Loki, giving him a questioning stare.

“My room is now clean,” he said bitterly. “I need these clothes washed, pressed, and back in my room in an hour.”

Jane continued to stare at him. “Loki, I’m working.”

“I need them washed no,” he demanded. “If you don’t, I’m leaving.”

“No, you aren’t.” she said sternly, putting her pencil down.

“Yes, I am,” he said, huffing.

“Don’t you dare use that tone with me.” Jane glared, trying to keep control of the conversation.

“I can use whatever tone I please,” Loki smirked. “And you can’t do a thing about it.”

He looked as smug as he could possibly look. Jane’s first reaction was to slap it right off, but she resisted…for now. Instead, she got up. Despite himself, Loki took a step back.

“Oh, yes I can. And I’ll tell you what I’m going to do about it,” She bent over and picked up a shirt. “I’m going to show you how to wash clothes and you’re going to wash them yourself.” She threw the shirt into his arms, gathered up the remaining clothes, and shoved them in his arms, too. “Come with me.”

“No! I want you to wash them.” he blurted out. “You can’t do this to me! I’m a prince of Asgard. It’s beneath me to wash my own clothes!”

“Not anymore, you aren’t. You’re mortal, just like me. So it isn’t beneath you.” Jane led him to a small closet beside the bathroom and pulled out a laundry basket and a bottle of laundry detergent. She offered the basket to Loki. “Toss your clothes in here and we’ll take them downstairs.”

Loki looked at the basket, a bit worried. He threw in everything he held in his arms and followed Jane out the front door.

“I’m letting you out of the apartment just this once because I’m with you. I want you to understand that,” she said with a hint of warning in her voice, pressing the elevator button. “If I ever catch you going out that door without me, you’ll be in trouble.”

When the elevator landed on the main floor, Jane took Loki to the apartment building’s laundry room. There were several other people already there. An elderly woman was folding her clothes on their right. She looked up when Jane and Loki walked in.

“Why hello, Jane.” she greeted.

“Hello, Mrs. Greendly.”

“You have a new boyfriend?” she asked, looking at Loki. Loki blushed and looked down at his feet.

“No, he isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my boyfriend’s brother. He’s just visiting for awhile.” Jane turned to Loki. “These washers and dryers are shared by everyone in the building,” she explained. “You have to pay a small fee in order to use them.”

“Wait,” Loki held up his hand. “You mean that everyone else washes their clothes in these same machines?”

“Yes,”

“That’s nasty.”

Jane rolled her eyes, pulling some money out of her pants pocket. “Loki, do you want your clothes washed or not?”

He nodded.

“Okay, then,” she pulled out some clothes. “You wash lights and darks separately. Put them in the tub, and then put your soap in.”

Jane went through all of the motions, explaining each step as simply as she could. When she started the washer, she turned a smiling face to Loki, but…Loki wasn’t there.

“Loki!” she shouted, running out into the lobby. Since he was powerless, he couldn’t teleport so he had to have disappeared on foot, which meant he couldn’t have gotten far. Sure enough, he was halfway to the front door. Jane ran and caught hold of his shirt and yanked him back. He spun around, fear washing over his face when his eyes landed on Jane. She gave him a cold, hard glare, her mouth working silently. She pointed to the laundry room.

“Don’t make this difficult for the both of us. Just quietly go back in there,” she whispered.

Pouting, Loki obeyed.

“I can’t believe you tried to leave!” Jane angrily shouted, slamming the door of her apartment when they returned. She threw the laundry basket of freshly dried clothes on the floor and put her hands on her hips.

“I wasn’t going to leave!” Loki shouted back, lying. “I was just taking a little walk and I wanted to see what was going on outside. Is that so bad?”

“You should have said something and we could have gone together after I put the clothes in to wash. The clothes I was showing you how to wash, I might add. You left in the middle of me explaining it to you.”

“Oh, I am so very sorry, your highness,” he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “It was utterly boring, anyway.”

“You know what I think?” Jane crossed her arms over her chest. “I think you’re nothing but a spoiled brat. If you can’t get your way, then you’re going to find some way of getting it. You wanted me to take you down there and show you how to wash those clothes, didn’t you? You were planning to walk out the front door all along.”

Loki smirked at her. “What if I did? And what if I was?”

She shook a finger at him. “You try that again, and you will find yourself in deep trouble.”

“See if I care.” he snapped. “I don’t even want to be here.”

“If you don’t change your attitude, you’ll never leave here.”

Loki shot her a glare.

“Might I remind you that you’re banished here until you learn to act like somebody? So I suggest that you change that spiteful attitude of yours and get yourself straightened out. If you don’t, you’re not going to be leaving here for a very long time.” She picked up the basket of clothes and shoved it into Loki’s arms and walked off.

He stood there, looking down at the clothes basket. “I thought Thor was going to come by after three months?”

“He is,” Jane said from the kitchen doorway. “If I can’t handle you living here by that time, he’s going to take you somewhere else. I have no idea where that other place will be, but I’m betting it won’t be as nice as this place.”

“Any place will be nicer than this place!” he shouted.

“Oh, yeah? Well, I guess you won’t complain, then, if he drops you off on the Avengers’ doorstep.”

Loki sucked in a breath. Visions of the Hulk suddenly flashed through his mind and he visibly shuddered, almost losing his hold on the clothes basket.

“I’m going to take these to my room.” he softly said, his tone changing drastically. Jane looked at him, a bit puzzled.

Notes