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The sun was shining, the birds were chirping happily and the breeze was crisp. This Sunday was just perfect. Just like Thor was. Jane sighed dreamily over her steaming cup of coffee, and her roommate rolled his eyes.
“Is that guy you met at uni really that good?” Loki asked snippily, eyes glued on the laptop’s screen, as his fingers danced silver-quick over the keyboard.
“Oh, you can’t even imagine,” Jane replied teasingly. She had learnt not to take Loki’s sharpness at heart. After all, he’d been irritable all morning, and for good reason.
“Ugh. All this lovey-dovey-ness is nauseating.” His cup of tea had long grown cold, yet he brought it to his lips and took a sip, wincing.
She giggled. “You’ll find someone too,” she said, patting his shoulder. “How about that medicine major?”
“Stephen? Isn’t he with Christine?”
Jane shook her head. “They’re just friends. I think.”
Loki cocked an eyebrow, turning a questioning gaze at her, as if to ask, is that so?
Jane’s smile widened. “Ah. So you do like him...”
He glared at her, and she nudged him playfully. “How’s the simulation going?”
Loki’s eyebrows knitted together thoughtfully. “I’ll know in about two hours. That input file was a mess.”
Jane made a face. “I can only imagine. I’m an old-school kind of girl.”
“You mean a solving triple integrals with a pencil kind of girl.”
“Hey! I can do a lot more than triple integrals with a pencil. Besides, we can’t all be as good as you are with computers!”
He smirked smugly, before pursing his lips in concentration, eyes locked at the screen. However, a nearly palpable anxiety had settled in the stiff set of his shoulders.
Jane bit her lip, before speaking. “Are you anxious?”
Loki’s eyes left the laptop, even as he avoided looking at her, and his fingers drummed at the table. “I’m- well maybe.”
“I understand that this is difficult,” Jane said gently. “Family can be hard sometimes.”
He nodded absently.
“But from what I understand, the last time you met your brother went well?”
Loki shrugged one shoulder, then looked through the window. “I guess?” There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
“Reconciliation can be hard, but I believe this is going well.”
His gaze turned to her, curiosity writ over his features. “How so?”
“Well, for one, you are both trying. When there is good will, you can overcome whatever obstacles life throws your way.”
“I never took you for such a boundless optimist.”
Jane laughed softly. “I’d like to think myself a pragmatist. The world doesn’t hold as much darkness as many people would attribute to it.”
Loki’s countenance darkened with sorrow rather than anger. “It depends,” he said grimly.
She looked at him, pursing her lips thoughtfully. “Perhaps, I could stay,” she suggested. “If you don’t mind my company.”
His eyes narrowed and he stared at her, cocking his head. “What do you have in mind?”
Jane lifted her eyebrows. “While the simulation is running, I could help you prepare lunch, and when your brother comes to visit, I can stay and keep you company.”
Loki glanced at her sideways. “Thank you,” he said, and for but a brief moment, the gratitude in his voice was obvious.
Jane shrugged. “Don’t mention it. Would you like pasta?”
“Hm. Naturally. I’ll be cooking the sauce though. Otherwise, it will be most certainly inedible.”
Jane smiled, even as she gave Loki a retaliatory nudge in the ribs. “Like you’re any better at cooking. I swear that soup last time was a poisoning attempt.”
Loki brought the hand to his chest fingers splayed open, expression the epitome of false hurt. “My Lady, I’ll have you know, my mushroom soup is considered a delicacy.”
She rolled her eyes. “So you keep saying.”
The tomato sauce was simmering in the pan, the freshly chopped rosemary leaves floating like small ships in between islands consisting of mushrooms and onions pieces.
Jane was cutting lettuce and cabbage for the salad, while Loki was rinsing the carrots, when the doorbell rang.
Loki went completely still, and Jane gave a comforting squeeze on his arm. “I’m going,” she said gently.
Loki frowned, but did not object.
She pulled the handle, and the door opened with a light creak. Thor was standing on the other side, smiling.
“Thor!” she said, grinning, before her smile collapsed into a frown. “How do you know where I live?”
“I don’t know, I swear this was the address that he gave me-” Thor mumbled, pulling out his phone and glancing between the screen and the address, before frowning severely. “That is the right address.”
“The address he gave you?”
Thor’s expression turned sheepish. “My brother. Loki.”
Jane’s jaw fell open for a few long seconds. Then she let out a snort of a giggle, that had Thor looking at her weirded out.
Loki coughed politely. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked from the doorway, raising an eyebrow.
“Loki!” Thor bellowed joyously, as Jane turned to look at him, grinning from ear to ear.
“Thor is my... uh- acquaintance from uni.”
Loki’s expression went blank. “Oh, really?”
“I should have imagined! The naming convention, if nothing else, ought to have been obvious. It was only,” she paused. It is only that you two look nothing alike. “It was only that it didn’t really occur to me.”
“That’s alright,” Loki said breezily, staring intently at his brother, “after all, we look nothing alike. Isn’t that right Thor?”
Jane glanced at Thor, whose smile had frozen on his lips. There was more to this statement, Jane knew that much, but she didn’t press.
“Indeed,” Thor replied, slightly strained. “You took all of mother’s charm, for one thing.”
Loki’s lips quirked up. “Let us not dally in the yard. Jane and I have prepared lunch.”
With these words, Loki strode back inside.
Jane peered through the doorway. Should Loki hear her say any of this, he would be greatly displeased, to say the least. “I’m sorry. He’s been climbing the walls with worry. You know how he can be,” she said apologetically, arms crossed.
If anything Thor appeared relieved. “Don’t worry. Loki can be... difficult at times, but I know he doesn’t mean ill. I’ve known him since forever, after all.”
Jane smiled approvingly, and he took her hand in his and kissed her wrist. She blushed.
“I’m very glad to see you, Jane.”
Jane’s cheeks reddened further. “We should go inside,” she said.
Thor grinned playfully. “Of course. It isn’t proper to keep our host waiting for us after all.”
Jane and Thor were chatting amiably over lunch, all the while Loki’s gaze was intently focused on his meal. Jane occasionally glanced at him. Silence was not utterly unlike him, but it usually didn’t bode well. She herself however, was almost buzzing with a thrilling sort of nervous energy.
Then again, it appeared like a pattern. Thor was the talkative, jovial sibling, while Loki was the reserved, quiet one.
Thor however appeared to be aware of that fact as well, and attempting to draw his brother out. “So how did you two met?” he inquired, glancing between Loki and Jane.
“I initially intended to major in math,” Jane started, “and I believe Loki had chosen Computer Science?”
Loki snorted. “I hadn’t exactly chosen that. It was the most acceptable answer from the options Father had insisted on-” he huffed, cutting off abruptly. His eyes turned to Jane. “It doesn’t matter. Please, do go on.”
“We ended up sitting nearby on a compulsory physics course,” Jane continued, “which we both enjoyed more than we expected. We were studying together, and we hit it off. The next year, we decided it was all cheaper to rent an apartment together.”
“It was around then that I switched majors,” Loki added.
“We have chosen many common courses. We’ve ended up choosing the same major, even. Different specializations though,” Jane mused.
“Condensed matter physics,” Loki stated. “Jane was more keen in theoretical astrophysics, though.”
Thor nodded in understanding. “So this is the last semester for you two?”
“Yeah,” Loki said. “I thought you had finished with your major?”
Thor smiled sheepishly. “I had, but well, it didn’t suit me.”
Loki raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.
“So I’m now doing a post-grad on history,” Thor said.
Loki frowned. “Father won’t be pleased.”
A frown marred Thor’s handsome face. “I don’t live to please him, you know.”
“That’s what you’ve done thus far,” Loki shot back, and then breathed out, “I beg your pardon,” pushing to his feet abruptly, and making for the door.
Jane stared, stunned. “I’ll speak with him,” she said, but Thor replied quickly, “no, I’ll go.”
She did not hear what was said, only the low monotonous droning that made it past the walls, more of a rhythm than actual words. At least they did not appear to be shouting. To do something other than just sit around, she began pilling plates and silverware to the kitchen sink.
When Jane had been wondering whether she should intervene somehow, she heard the door of Loki’s bedchamber open, and their voices spilt through the corridor.
Jane turned, and there they were; at the doorway both looking slightly awkward. She raised a brow in question, folding her arms on her chest.
“I wish to apologise,” Loki said, “for causing a scene earlier. That was... unbecoming.”
“Thank you, but that isn’t really necessary.”
He smiled crookedly. “Well, I apologise regardless.”
The rest of the visit went down smoothly. The tension between the two brothers had seemingly dissipated, like so much mist in the light of the morning sun, though Jane didn’t trust that completely.
When the sun had long since abandoned the top of the world, Thor reluctantly made for the door.
Loki bid him goodbye in an all too formal fashion, before being enveloped in a tight hug. For a few moments, he stood stunned, before clinging on him with equal ferocity.
Then, Thor turned to Jane with a smile, taking a few steps towards her.
“You two should go on a proper date already,” Loki said, a glint of mischief setting his eyes alight.
Thor cupped her face and kissed her. It was little more than a peck on the lips, but Jane’s heart fluttered and her lips tingled.
She grinned, and stared into his eyes. “We definitely should.”