Chapter Text
As Emerson sat on her bed, Loki drifted around her room mindlessly letting his fingers stroke the spines of books. He stopped at her closet grimacing at the second hand state of her wardrobe and made a mental note to do something about it. He felt confined in the small space. Emerson was setting out trinkets and the last of the fruit they had enjoyed on Alfiem. The fruit gleamed pearlescent in the dimly lit room. The sunlight changing colors, turning to a warm golden glow that caught the shades of copper in Emerson’s hair.
“What will my parents think I was doing today?” Emerson didn’t seem concerned.
“They will be under the impression that you went to school like any other day,” Loki was looking at a picture of her family. “Nothing too ostentatious, darling.”
His eyes were glazed with distain as he took in the images of her family smiling up at him from the photograph. Their faces seemed to mock him from within the small frames. They proclaimed him an intruder to this world the same as any other. He disliked them instantly and he hated that in each picture Emerson’s face shown with happiness. Perhaps it was not the same happiness he had seen in the forest, but his jealously ate at him. Part of him understood that he could never stay here, never be a part of her life the same way as her family, but he wanted to be her family.
“Mmmm,” Emerson fiddled with a green scarf Loki had bartered for her in a market place. “You are marvelous.”
The smile she gave Loki was only for him. It stripped him of his petty insecurities. Her parents didn’t get to see the freedom flashing like fire in her irises. They were the outsiders in this world and Loki liked that idea. Emerson could have a secret life, he could have a secret life, and they could be family. They could be better.
“What are best friends for?” He placed a chaste lingering kiss on her forehead. “I am a god you know.”
“A god?” Emerson had wrapped the scarf around her head like a turban, her face serious. She jumped up her scarf still perched atop her head, surprisingly steady. She slinked in a circle around Loki, looking him up and down. “I can see it. Don’t slouch. Hold your chin up, and walk like everyone should kneel to you.”
Loki’s back slammed straight, his head tilting up. He grinned devilishly.