#chapter reading

Holy jeebers peeps!!! @skitteringjunbug made a voice recording of the first chapter of my fic!!

Found this lovely imagine: http://imagine-loki.tumblr.com/post/172709502489/imagine-an-au-where-everybody-can-read-a-chapter and just had to write a drabble for it. Might progress to something more if enough people like it. 

****

You sighed, your fingers tracing over the spine of the book that had come into your possession some time ago. It had been years since you actually acquired the book, the mysterious tome appearing on your doorstep. You hadn’t been expecting it when you left your home that morning but when you had stepped out, you nearly tripped over the blocky thing. It was a short book, fitting comfortably within your hand as you turned it over, inspecting it curiously. Taking it inside, you had decided to delay time spent with your friends for a peek at the contents.

The book looked old, the cover blue with deeper blue lines that seemed to be cracks in the binding, but the sleeve over it was a deep black that when moved under light looked almost green. Bright golden letters shimmered under your fingertips as you traced the words on the cover. Slowly opening the book, you looked in at the pages. They were crisp and clean in the center, the edges rumpled and rough, lined with a thin sliver of gold. Cursive font decorated the pages, lines of text that went on and on for chapters, the thoughts and actions of a person you never knew. Your heart skipped a beat.

About a year ago, your friends had all started receiving mystery books, all of them different and unique. And when your friends read them, after some time they wound up meeting the person who they read about and they would hold a book of their own detailing your friends lives. They had started calling them Red Ribbon Books. This came from the old stories of soulmates having a red ribbon tied to their fingers that would stretch and move with them, always tying the soulmates together. But now, you held one in your hand. You had a soulmate of your very own.

Looking at the text, you could tell you clearly had this soulmate for quite some time now but perhaps it just hadn’t been the right time to know about them and now you were ready. Quickly pulling out your phone, you had cancelled on your friends and sat down, opening the pages to read about your future lover.

Now though, it had been so long. Every day, you had read a chapter, reading about the man you were going to end up with, but never coming closer to actually meeting him. In fact, you were pretty sure you never would. From the sounds of it, he seemed to be an alien, lost on foreign worlds with odd names and even more peculiar events. And what was even more frightening was the fact that he seemed to be…dangerous. He explored new places, battling and killing without the blink of an eye, even attacking his own allies just for fun! He had a brother that he played so called tricks on, but quite frankly, it sounded violent. ‘Stabbing his own brother,’ you remember thinking. ‘If he could do that, what would stop him from hurting me?’ Your heart hammered in your chest at the thought. You could only hope that if you did ever meet, he never would.

****

Loki had always been fond of books, but none more so than the book he had gotten many many years ago. When he first found the book, it had been completely blank, the pages holding nothing inside of them. He had scoffed and tossed it aside at first, moving to walk away from it. Yet, something made him circle around and pick it up again. He held it in long and elegant fingers, inspecting every page carefully, squinting with a suspicious eye. Well, even if it was plain, he could always use it as a journal. He glanced around at the street vendors shop, smirking as he found them looking elsewhere before he pocketed the item.

When he had returned to his room, he moved to his desk, pulling out a feather quill to begin writing in it. However, as he put the pen to paper and began to scrawl, the letters faded and vanished from the page. Glaring at the book, he tried again only to be unsuccessful yet again. Cursing under his breath, he went to work, trying to discover if there was a magic put upon the tome. When he found nothing he could decipher, he set the book aside and went to the royal library in search of an answer. With time, he would get this book to work in his favor.

And one day, it did.

Loki had gone into his bedroom that night, moving to sit at his desk. Thor had been especially insufferable that day and he desired to get his feelings down for later revenge and in a moment of forgetfulness, he grabbed the wrong journaling book. Pulling your book into his hand, he opened it to discover words adorning the page. Quirking a brow, he took a moment to read over the words. He turned another page, eyes skimming the new contents. Why was he reading this? This was about a child crying for it’s lost bear! This was pointless! He closed the book, tossing it aside on his desk before going to bed.

Getting into the large bed, he lay under the covers to close his eyes, trying to go to sleep. The darkness surrounded him and he breathed deeply, attempting to calm his mind… Damn it. He threw the covers off himself and grabbed the book again, bringing it to bed to read. He didn’t sleep that night, his eyes glued to the pages as he read of your childhood. He found himself smiling, imagining the small child growing as he read more and more over the next few weeks.

Soon, he started to get attached, keeping the book on him and reading every day no matter where he was. He had read through your childhood, your teenage years, first loves, heartbreaks, new friends, old friends, the traitors and saviours. He found himself in the pages, in you, seeing a kindred soul in the way life seemed to throw you into different things.

While your life seemed rather blaise compared to his, he found himself longing to read again every night, living through the minutiae of your day, every day. Then one night, a brilliant idea popped into his head. He was going to find you.

****

You were grown now, an adult with your own job and an apartment with your best friend. You still read as much as you could from your red ribbon book, but honestly adult life was busy and you didn’t always get the chance. Today had been especially bad as you had been stuck on a cash register at your job, forced to deal with chatty customers who wanted nothing to do but complain to you about the horrible experience they seemed to have here. Well, you were having a horrible experience right now too and if you didn’t have the risk of getting fired, you would tell them that, along with where they could go shove the decorative pillows they just bought.

But now you were nearing the end of your shift, glancing at the clock on your register. Ten more minutes. You looked at the line that had formed, sighing in frustration. As you took a quick scan over the people in your line, you saw, between the faces of annoyed people watching you, a man reading a book as he waited. Shaking your head a bit, you went back to scanning.

Five more minutes. You told yourself, then you would shut off your light and the next person coming in would come, sign in, turn on the light, and you were free. You reached for the next item on the belt, grabbing a book. You didn’t take much notice of it really, a lot of people bought books, but you did notice its cover was your favorite color. Moving to scan it, you frowned as it didn’t beep and show up on the screen. Turning the book over, you sighed as you didn’t find a barcode.

That was when you heard a soft chuckle from the customer. You felt your face flush in embarrassment, your eyes darting up to look at him. You froze as you met icy blue eyes and an amused smirk. The man was handsome really, pale skin against raven black hair gelled back into gentle waves that cascaded around his shoulders. He was tall, thin, wearing a black suit that fit his form tightly, but only as he moved did you realize that he was actually quite muscular underneath the suit. You imagined he was lithe and toned, appearing thin and harmless but holding a deadly power with well placed strikes.

“Is there something I can help you with?” you asked, your voice wavering as your mouth suddenly felt dry.

“I think so.” he said, opening the book to the last page where it scribed your thoughts as you thought them. Your eyes widened as you looked up at him, mouth hanging open. The man chuckled as he reached out, slender fingers grazing your jaw before pushing it up so your mouth closed. “I’ll be waiting outside.”

You watched in a daze as the man grabbed the book, moving to walk out of the store. It felt like every second dragged on until the next employee came up to take over for you. As soon as you saw them, you made a mad dash for the time clock, punching out and grabbing your sweatshirt before running back outside the building to meet your fate.

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